3 more freezing days in New York

Our days have been much the same ...... wake up, chat to some other awake adults, chat to Lach while he cooks breakfast, chat to assorted of the 5 kids, get ready to go out ( which takes ages and ages to find hats , gloves,  extra layers etc despite leaving everything at front door) , go to where ever we have decided to go, battle crowds, take kids to park to,run around and warm up, while we feeze watching them, eat, visit somewhere else, come back  and repeat maybe.  Bath and get kids to bed and ignore them as they chatter and play together in bed.

Yesterday it was a little warmer, -6 maximum, and it snowed, much to the delight of all the kids, so there were a few more stops in parks to throw snowballs.

It is lovely to see Wendy's 4 sharing in looking after their younger cousin.

More New York

On Monday we did go on the Staten Island ferry,  past Lady Liberty, got off the ferry and immediately queued up again to return to Manhatten and a small Italian restaurant for dinner.

Tuesday we packed up our stuff, went to a late breakfast, then wandered past lots of the Christmas windows that some of the big stores organise every year. Some very clever. We found the fancy apartment and were very pleased to be warm again. Wendy and Lach retrieved our luggage and organised take away Thai,  then Carol and Katie arrived. Apparently  Katie had only slept for 5 of the almost 36 hours they took to get here. She was delighted to have her 4 cousins to look after her, but after a while they were less impressed when she would not go to sleep. Carol was exhausted when they arrived, but she was still smiling. Wendy was delighted, if not completely surprised.

This morning  Wendy , Lach and Carol went for a run in Central Park, then we went to an off- Broadway performance of The Lion , the Witch and the Wardrobe. Katie had never been to a live performance before and it was fun to listen to Lainie trying to explain to her what was going to happen.  After lunch at some American burger place that Lach knew of, we wandered down Broadway with all the other tourists trying not to loose each other,  through Times Square and to Bryant Park, then back to the very welcome warm apartment. It got to a high of -4 today, but sometimes when you rounded a corner the bitter wind hit you . Katie did a great job of walking for ages, always with a cousin on either side of her.

2 Daughters and 5 granddaughters 

New York at Christmas.

Firstly, I have not been slack , just aware that my priorities are spending time with my grand children rather than remembering what I have done.

On Saturday I moved to the cheap hotel in Chinatown wendy had booked for us for 3 nights then pottered around. Wendy and Co turned up mid afternoon after driving from Killing ton in Vermont.  We went to a nearby Chinese restaurant  at 5. 30, only just got in and the kids fair hair was definitely not the norm. LateR Wendy, Lach and I went to a performance of Handels Messiah at Carnegie Hall.  It was absolutely wonderful.

Yesterday we walked to a cafe in Little Italy for a very late  breakfast.  Ground zero and the surrounding memorials was next on the agenda. Then wendy and her family had to finish their Christmas shopping.  Century 21 is a huge store with lots and lots  of racks closely packed with clothes, lots of people and lots of noise. Not my thing so I rapidly pealed off and found the cafe which turned out to be some comfyish chairs and vending machines. Very few other people. Later we went to Washington  Square park to sing some carols  then we found a Turkish place for dinner.

This morning, Christmas morning, we went to breakfast at a nice hotel that Wendy had booked then to a Christmas Service at Trinity church. Very old, huge, very full ie standing room only,  ( we got there early enough to get a seat) ,  wonderful choir,  soprano soaring above everyone, interesting slight differences in liturgy. When we left we had to walk through the area where they serve lunch to whoever wants it every day of the year.

I think next we are going on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, but I have yet to be told the details by our tour director, Wendy. I am enjoying doing what I am told.

Train to New York

A long boring day, but quite relaxing.

Despite being told that the old people would be boarded first onto the Amtrak train from Montreal we were not.  However I still managed to get a window seat. However the view was of white snow, greyish trees, white ice nd more white snow. Several pops of colour stood out. I knew we were going round the edge of some lakes, so I knew to look out for it, but if I had not known, I would have missed the lake. It was odd suddenly to see appearing out of the gloom a whole lot of largish boats on their cradles. Bigger than anything that sails on Lake BG.  So that would have given me a clue we were near a lake. We got on the train at 10 am,  it left promptly at 10.20, we stopped at the US border while customs people interogated everyone, some more so than others and we got off the train at 9.2pm.

I booked a hotel right near Penn Station . It is a new Holiday Inn. A tiny room, but quite adequate. It has a king size in width bed with only about 50 cm of space around it. But it is short. Lying on my back my heels hang over the bottom edge. A most odd feeling. Just as well I am not over 6 foot.

Museum of Fine Arts, chapel Notre-Dame de Bonsecours and assorted

Apparently 3/4 of the world's maple syrup comes from Quebec.

Montreal is the second largest French speaking city in the world. When I read this I wondered about Marseille.   According to one website Montreal has 1.75 million in 2016.  One website said Marseille would have 1.5 mill in 2017 and one said 1.1 in 2015.  Both websites said Marseille was growing very quickly.

Quebec didnot have , e.g. 60, 62 A, 62 B, 64 street numbers in a street but 60, 62,
62 1//2, 64. I would rather live in 62 1/2 than 62B

Today I went to the Museum des Beaux Arts.  The gallery is spread over 4 buildings . I looked at the modern art, skipped most of the older European stuff, could not make sense of the Contemporary stuff, enjoyed the early settler stuff. Lots of the paintings of Europeans and natives were vaguely similar to paintings of the early days of Australia except  most had reference in some way to the Catholic church.  I quite liked the work of Marc-Aurele Fortin, a Canadian. They didnot have much Inuit art. Apparently there is another gallery that specialises  it.

Along the street from where I am staying is a small chapel, the oldest stone church in Montreal. It has become known as a church for sailors and there a re quite a few models of boats hanging from the ceiling.  In 2003 there was a special ceremony to marK  the 350th anniversary of the lady who started the chapel. The Port of Montreal gave the church a model of a container ship to mark the occasion.

There are many things I would like to have seen but my priority today is to catch up on little things and rest a bit. It would not be sensible to arrive in NY tired. I know from the 10 days I spent with Wendy and Co in July that the kids go full speed all day, some of the night and then the next day and the day after etc etc

When I arrived there was snow everywhere. It snowed on the first  day but then stopped and got cold.  Today many of the footpaths were covered in treacherous icy patches. Quite difficult in places. Quite tiring, I have to concentrate.

Basilique, rehearsal and Leonard Cohen

Today was a good day. I found a nice place where I got a similar breakfast - eggs, potatoes , ham and fruit- to what I got in Qebec. Then I went to the Basilica Notre Dame .  This was designed by an American Protestant and built in the mid 1800s. The outside is quite plain -good stonemasons in  N Americz in those days were rare, but the inside is , according to 1 guide book, " a magnificently ornate tribute to the importance of woodworking and decoration in the Quebec is tradition".  Over the years I have not been impressed by very ornate European churches , especially Rococco ( I think), but this was quite different. Lots of carved painted wood. Around the walls were lovely fairly plain carved statues of different people.  The architect who designed the church converted to Catholicism just before he died so that he could be buried in the vault.

I went from there to the Museum of Contemporary Art. A large part of their exhibition space was occupied by stuff about Leonard Cohen, who died just over a year ago. Very interesting. The other stuff I saw was a bit obscure.

I went from there to Museum of Fine Arts but only got as far as the bistro. I  changed my plan for the day and after some  nice soup I decided to go to a different area that my book said was called the Latin Quarter and was quite bohemian. I did find some quite nice coffee, but not much else in this weather, though today at a high of  -1 was quite mild after Quebec.

Next stop was the Basilica again. There is apparently a concert every year at Christmas with quite well known performers and it is tonight. I overheard someone this morning saying that there was a rehearsal this afternoon. So I sat for about N hour listening to some music I didnot know and some I did and thoroughly enjoyed myself.   About 25 mainly string musicians, 2 soloists, and a large choir. All for no cost. I had decided that I didnot mind paying the $6 entry fee again but the lady at the counter recognised me when I was half way through my " I was here this morning" French sentence .

 I have just had a nice dinner which would have been improved if I could have seen a bit more clearly what I was eating.  I had a glass of a different Canadian red but forgot my pen so didnot write it down and have forgotten the details. I had an interesting conversation with a couple from Masachusetts at an adjacent table.

An easy day

I woke up feeling like i wanted to do very little today so I did. I trudged through more snow to the nearest metro station,  bought a 3 day pass, caught the subway, very efficient and easy to follow, to the main railway station. I have a reservation for the train to NY on Friday but no reserved seat. Not possible. Bit antiquated. I wanted to find out how long before the train  boarded did I have to be there to ensure I got a window seat Also what I could take to eat  ie what do the US customs people object to. There were about 30 people lined up half an hour before it boarded.  Nearby was an area for old people and families. I stood for a minute thinking would i say i was an old person with a dodgy knee. A lady came up and asked if she could help. I explained what I was doing. She said , without looking at my ticket, just my tired haggard face, your are a senior , you can wait here. We board you first. I do in fact have a senior ticket because I am over 65. Good.

Next I went to an area a bit north of the main centre where there was a knitting shop. I must have left my crochet hook in San Fransisco and want another one. The area is known for its outdoor coffee shops, though not in this weather. I did find a crepe place that made buckwheat pancakes, so I had one.

Then a supermarket that took ages. It was not in a neat rectangle. Curved aisles here and there. I did find the bacon, not because I wanted to but any. Avid readers may remember that I was not complementary of the bacon rashers served by a particular hotel chain that Wendy and Co organised for most of the week I was with them in june. They were all exactly the same length and width and seemed to have the fat and lean part evenly distributed. The bacon I got in SF and in Quebec was the same. So today I found that all the bacon sold in a large IGA was exactly the same. They do not have rashers like we know them, with a round bit of meat at one end tailing off .

I stopped on the way back to my apartment for a coffee and I splurged on a maple syrup and pecan brownie. I saved  half for tomorrow. I decided it was my duty as as tourist to sample something with maple syrup in it.

For most of the afternoon i have done little other than crochet some flowers for a new project, try to work out ice hockey rules , read anD watch an extremely inane game show

Arrived in Montreal

I caught a very comfortable Canadian train to Montreal today. The trip was white, white snow everywhere, white ice over the rivers, and white everywhere else.  The sameness was sort of relaxing.

I  caught a taxi to the apartment even though I had spent ages working out what subway to take or which road to walk along.  At 4.30 pm it was almost dark, it had been snowing for ages and presumably the footpaths were as treacherous as those in Qebec. I decided I would practise at being a sensible person and save my energy.

The apartment is nice, spacious and well located in the old part if Montreal, now a bit trendy and a bit touristy, but I will know more tomorrow.  I had a nice dinner of fish and a glass of brouilly.

Wandering the streets of Quebec city

Background : before I go away I try and read something about the places I go to or a book set in the places I am going to. This time I have found and have been reading a series of books set in Canada and based around Montreal where the lead character, a detective, lives.  One of the series was set mostly in quebec city where he was visiting a friend who lives down the road from where I am staying and eats in 2 different places, both off the beaten tourist trail.  Today I wandered down the part of the street and the houses all fit the description. The 2 cafes both exist and are as described.

Highlights from today: I mastered walking down hill. I mastered the toe tap - bang toe of boot hard into the rise of the step when entering a building to shake as much snow off as possible. I visited a lovely shop selling woolen products made from sheep in the Charlevoix  area 100km north of quebec city. I enjoyed a salad in a place where there were only locals or maybe regular visitors, going on how everyone seemed to be known to the proprietor. I had some delicious onion soup in another simple place where they were mostly locals. I enjoyed a glass of cab/merlot in a pleasant bar with a view over the St Lawrence River in the fanciest hotel in town. It was from a vineyard in Okanagan , south British Columbia. The wine lady reckoned this particular vineyard's white was better.  I looked at the temperature when I left for the bar at 4.50 and it was -16,  but feels like with the wind chill factor considered -23.  I told her I would have red!   Places in Canada do not seem to be heated as much inside as the US. Several people today, as yesterday,  have addressed me in French, understood my halting French reply, realised I spoke English and  then asked, in English,  if I would prefer them to talk in English or French. I always reply 'French slowly  please because I am trying to learn' in French, which they do. How kind and thoughtful is that.

View across lower old Quebec City from upper old quebec city to St Lawrence River

 On way to  Chateau Frontenac

Transport and Quebec City

Friday was a long day of travel.  Walk to local train station, train to airport, plane to Montreal,  wait around, plane to Quebec City, taxi to hotel. The taxi driver and I communicated quite well, until the end of the ride.  Arabic was his first language and English, Italian and French equal second. I tried to use French but quickly realised he could equally understand the Italian that often came out of my mouth if my brain could not find the French quickly enough, so just carried on regardless.  We arrived at about 9pm in this little square,  lightly snowing, all the buildings lit up and sparkly, big drifts of snow everywhere, happy people walking around.  I said it was like being in a fairytale. He didnot know the English word and I didnot know the French or Italian.

This morning breakfast in the hotel was a huge ham and cheese omelette,  a large amount of lightly fried potato and some cut -up fruit, all on the 1 large plate.

It was  -15 degrees when I set off at 9.30. It got up to the maximum for thE day -10 at 2pm. Mostly bright blue skies.  I wandered around, looking at the view over the partially frozen St Lawrence River, the Basilica,  the English church , windows of shops for most of the day.  I walked  to the railway station and returned a different way and decided that on Monday I would chose a different method when I go to Montreal. I am fairly sure my boots are as good as most people's and better than some but I have not got the technique of walking down hills in the slippery thick slush that covers the footpaths mastered. Several times I have almost fallen. I have seen quite a few other people slip and slide down the hills.  So dragging a suitcase would be silly.

Apart from my eyes which run in the cold, mostly I am fine in the conditions, as long as I donot take a photo or look at a map!.   I cannot take a photo on my phone with my gloves on. I will try with my camera shortly.   If I stop to look at my map, my glasses fog up.  This evening I went to a supermarket about a km away and did not try very hard coming home and followed my nose, which didnot work particularly well and my route home was longer. Maybe because my nose as well as my eyes run in the cold,  it didnot lead me very well.

San Fransisco extras.

On every bus I have been in,  I have one of very few non Hispanic,  Black or Asians.

People often say Happy Holidays in situations we would say Happy Christmas

I have been very pleasantly suprised by the lack of tacky blow-up Santas.  Just about all shops have lots of decorations, but quite tasteful.  Mainly sparkly trees and green garlands. Very few flashing lights.

Golden Gate bridge:  The most difficult bit was the foundations of the south tower, 345m offshore. The foundations go 30m down into the earth below the water. The main cables are 1m thick

A lot of people wander the streets in christmassy clothing , more than in Canberra.

I pass regularly a man begging on the pavement. I have no idea what he is saying,  but I cannot not smile because it sounds to me like "small change for a Ferrari".

THursley. Lots of steps and lots of walking.

As well as old  cable cars , SF has some old historic trolley buses.  The Coit Tower is on top of Telegraph Hill, one of SF's hills. It was built in 1933. This morning I combined the 2.  I walked down to the nearest trolley bus stop , waited about 20 minutes, got the trolley bus to near the Filbert stairs, one of the ways of climbing the hill. The 449 steps go up the side of the hill, weaving through the houses in little lanes. I was a bit puffed, paid my $5 to go up in the lift to the look out and discovered I have another 36 steps. The 360 degree view was worth it.

I came down an easier way, walked through North Beach, another interesting part of SF to the City Lights Bookstore, the first paperback bookstore in the US. Over the years it has gained a reputation for supporting all sorts of  wild, often subversive at the time but worthy causes.

More walking to the Jackson Square historic area, which was not very impressive. A block of reddy brown brick 2 or 3 storey  buildings,  warehouse like, that survived the catastrophic  fire in 1906. They look the same as buildings all through the Rocks ( although maybe those are sandstone, I cannot remember but the same style) and along the river in Teneriffe and Newstead,  Brisbane.

Then a walk back to my hotel. Too much walking. Tomorrow I will be sitting at airports and in planes all day.

Spanish mission

Yesterday I visited a small old church commonly called Mission Dolores. It was one of about 18 missions built all over California in the late 1700's early1800's with the aim of converting the local Indian people to Christianity.  However within 50 years all of the local Indians had died about 5000, mainly from disease.  To quote one book I read " their entire universe, from their daily life to their spiritual beliefs, was erased. As psychotic a transformation as Pol,Pot's regime."  What does  that say about our history.

Anyway, the small mission church , built in 1791 , is still standing. It is considered the oldest building in SF.  A Basilica was built next door in the early 1900's. It was pleasant enough,  but I looked everywhere for some thing to acknowledge the Indians and could not find anything. Next I went into the small museum. There were clerical clothes , odds and ends the priests used, tools the Indians used, but no mention of them dying out, except for a book on display entitled " A .Time of little Choice, The disintegration of tribal culture in the SF bay area 1769 to 1810"  So into the cemetery I continued to search. I found 2 graves which looked like their wooden headstones had just been redone and a little statue of an Indian lady on a plinth with the inscription "Prayerful memory of our faithful Indians" . Lots and lots of other graves.

I walked off and found some lunch -another nice salad but with too many green leaves, not the first time . I talked to a local at the bar about the Mission museum. He said everyone knows the history of the area, how the Indians got wiped out, so why do they need reminding?  I said, what about visitors? He shrugged. I said goodbye and went to catch another 2 buses nd walked to the Haas- Lilienthal House, a Victoria House in the Queen Anne style built in 1886. I found it interesting.

Then home, then out for dinner.

Murals 

Murals, Spanish mission, Queen Anne house part 1

One of the things San Fransisco is noted for are the murals painted on walls and buildings in lots of areas, but mainly in an area called Mission where there has always been a high concentration of Hispanic people .   It took me a walk and 2 buses and a walk to get there which, although took about an hour,  was quite interesting. I was underwhelmed though by having to wait 20 minutes for the 2nd bus in a less than salubrious neighbourhood.  There is a particular street that has a lot of murals, many with a great deal of detail of, Eg people that was lost on me.  Mostly protesting against injustices to minority groups. See photo below.


Next stop was a wool shop, a bus and walk away, though the walk was broken by a stop for delicious freshly squeezed veggie juice. I thought  I was being very good when remembering to ask for the bathroom rather than loo or whatever else we ausiess say. I was gently corrected when the lady said ' the restroom is over there' , with the emphasis on rest. How ridiculous. I no more intended on resting than having a bath. Any way, the wool shop was amazing.  Bigger than any wool shop I have seen in my life. There was a huge range of yarns, a huge range of books, a huge range of bits and bobs.  There were 3 people serving customers and another lady who seemed to be the boss. I bought a ball of wool for the project I have bought with me. If it had been my last stop before returning to tiny Cbr, I would have bought some books at least.

Next stop was Mission Dolores.
.
.
.
I left this account and went to dinner at 5.45. I had intended on just getting a quick ish  meal. However I have just returned and it is 8.30. I got talked into a glass of wine  -because it was before 6pm he said it would cost me $7 instead of $12- and a dish of cioppino, a sort of fish stew which had heaps of all sorts of delicious seafood, but took ages to eat, the crab bits were huge, very messy. I also spent longer than I intended because I got talking to 2 local guys sitting at the bar near me. One of the interesting things I learnt from the bar man is that right across all of the hospitality trade in SF numbers of tourists are about 50% of normal for this time of year. He said Europeans are not coming because they are afraid of what might happen with Mr Trump at the helm.  Now I want to play with my new wool and will write part 2 tomorrow.

SF Museum of Modern Art

On my way to the SF MOMA I went to look at the outside of the Contemporary Jewish Museum.  It was designed by Daniel Libeskind, one of the group who designed the One World Trade Centre and built in 1994. It is a bit odd. A rectangular reddish brown building that used to be a power station with a shiny black cube on 1 corner next to it. It is right up close to other buildings, 1 a church, and it is impossible to get a good photo of it - well, impossible for me.  Nearby is the new  Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts in a new park, about the size of a whole block, with garden beds, lawn and seating.  There is a memorial to Martin Luther King which was quite moving. You could walk behind a large, long waterfall and there were excerpts from his speeches on the wall.

The SF MOMA,  another new building was built in 1994. There were 6 floors of exhibits. I sat looking at a Rothlo for a while. The colours seem to get more intense the longer you look, or is it a mind trick.  There were lots of groups of children with their teacher scattered around the gallery. There was a painting by Edward Hopper of a single woman in the corner of a theatre. I listened for a while while the teacher asked what his 12 15 or 16yr old boys thought she was thinking about. Several thought she must  be lonely. To me she looked like many of his single women, alone but quite self- contained and not lonely.

When I was in Washington I saw an exhibition in the Guggenheim gallery of John
Chamberlain's 20 or so old cars that he painted bright colours and then squashed . I could not see the,point. Today I saw a washing machine that he had squashed. The label associated with this work says " metal from an old washing machine was thoughtfully crushed and fitted together to create this torquing form. Hmm. 'thouhtfully'?

There were some lovely sculptures by Alexander Calder that made me smile.  Then I enjoyed a proper cup of coffee before walking a bit to the start of another cable car line. I rode  to the end, then started to walk back but stopped in an Italian restaurant for a salad and some gf pasta. Delicious.

I went to look at Grace  Cathedral, the main church of the Episcopal Diocese of California , mainly because it has 2 labyrinths, one inside and one outside, both based on the labyrinth of Chartres cathedral. When I was in sydney , I walked around the newish labyrinth in centenial park which is similarly based on the Chartres one.  Today, I could not see the inside one because of the yearly performance of the Messiah that is performed in this cathedral and the one outside was disappointing to me because it was hemmed in by a stone wall , a building and was overlooked by several buildings.  So I was a bit grumpy when I went to look at other things inside.  There is peaceful,  modern AIDS memorial interfaith chapel.

That was it for the day.  The temperature had dropped and I was not aware at the time,  but it was also at 3.30 getting a bit dark because my photos that I
took on the way home are a bit dark.

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge and other firsts

This morning,  breakfast in the hotel was a delicious omelette.  A good start. Then I went to a nearby Walgreen - seems to be the supermarket of choice around here - to but some almonds. The price was 7.00 or 4.00 if you had a loyalty card.  The checkout lady seemed surprised that I didnot have one. She asked was I a visitor and I said yes, so she gave me the cheaper price. Did I look like I needed financial help? I am sure she was just being friendly.

My rough plan was to get public transport to the southern end  of the GG bridge, walk over it ( about 4 km including the approaches) and on to Sausilito (about 3 km to the edge of the town and another km to the ferry wharf)  and then catch a ferry back to SF.  However I had not planned what  mode of transport or anything , just had a rough idea of which direction. I had looked up the ferry times and seen they ran about every 60 to 90 mins  and thought that will be ok.  For me, very unprepared.

 There is a cable car stop about 10 m away from the hotel front door. Soon a full ish one came up the hill going in the right direction for me.  There's room for 1 more, the brake man called out to me, so I squashed onto the running board and held on and kept my elbows in because there is little room sometimes between the people standing on the outside and adjacent cars.  Normally if I go somewhere I like to take photos and watch a map as we go - my way of remembering where I have been and what I have taken a photo of. Neither possible this morning so I just enjoyed myself and the wind in my hair. Over a fairly short distance we went up quite a few hills and down the other side. It is really obvious -smaller houses at the bottom of the hills and larger houses at the tops.

At the end of the line I walked a few m to a nearby biggish road that had busses running down it. I asked the first one that came along was he going where I wanted to go.  He told me no and told me what number bus and where along the street to catch it. Normally I would be embarrassed to do this because I know that I can look up timetables myself, For some reason today I didnot care. Must be something in the air, or part of the 50th celebration of 1967, the start of the hippy era.

So, I walked over the bridge. 6 lanes of traffic made it a bit noisy. About 6 groups of about 20 cyclists went past. There were not many walkers. At one point crossing the bridge I wondered about what particular mathematical function created the curve of the supporting cables.  Luckily I am not (anymore!)  my mother , dismissed the thought and the need to find out, and went back to enjoying the wind in my hair.

When I got to the end of the bridge and started following the signs to Sausilito I could have been in bush anywhere miles away from civilisation.  I didnot see anyone else on the path. I followed the path through a military base, through a magnificent stand of what looked to me like Syney Red Gums, through more bush to Sausilito.  Walking through the town I thought a cup of calm chowder would be nice for lunch.  I chose a place at random , went in , was shown to a nice table on their deck overlooking the water to S F.  It was a lovely fine sunny clear, no fog, day.   A waiter who was good at up selling convinced me to have a bowl of soup and a glass of Gruner Veltliner, which I didnot know. I needed very little persuading.   It took me a long time to savour every morsel of my delicious clam chowder. At some point, I remembered that I had bought myself a powerbank.  If I use my phone to take photos (lots today) and to navigate ( less than normal today) it almost runs out of charge before the end of the day.  I had remembered to leave it in my bag this morning but not, as I discovered at lunch, the connecting cable. In the past I would have been annoyed at myself. Today I just laughed.

The views of the GG bridge coming back on the ferry where made different by the sun near the bridge. It was 2pm, but the sun seemed lower than 2pm here and the brightness changed the colour. I have yet to sort my photos. I enjoyed watching the shapes and colours of SF as we approached it. The wind in my hair was good too.

The ferry stopped at Fisherman's Wharf - a tourist collection of shops and I have to admit that I looked up on my just-still-charged phone where to get which bus from.

I discovered this afternoon that over the road from my hotel the little cafe serves nice proper espresso coffee.

For dinner I went to a cafe and ordered a spinach salad which had lots of veggie stuff in it. The waiter asked if I wanted some chicken as well. More up selling,  but it was an excellent idea . He charged me an extra $2 for quite a large piece of grilled chicken.

A great day.

Another trip started well.

All yesterday's flights went well. Cbr to Syd then Syd to San Francisco.   I got asked 3 times about my reasons for visiting USA. Once at the gate to get onto the bus from the domestic to international airport, second time getting onto the plane and the 3rd time getting into the country. Each time I said vacation and was asked where, why,  etc and once who else was going to be at the 40th birthday etc etc. They usually gave up when i said i was looking for ward to seeing my grandchildren. I was tempted to say that my lovely Tahli the Terrific Tiger was too young to be a Terrorist but knew not to.

From San Fransisco airport I got almost straight onto a BART train ( Bay Area Rapid Transport)  a painless and cheap way of getting into the city. The stop nearest my hotel was next to the tourist bureau, which I discovered was only open on Sundays from March to October, despite what it's website said.  Never mind,  up the hill to my hotel. The first hill of many. Luckily my bag only weighed 12.8 kg. About 2 of that was christmas presents. I left my bag at the hotel, went for some lunch , then wandered a bit and ended up at Macy's where there was another tourist info.  They did not have a map to scale. I had to explain what I meant. Ah well. I often use my phone when I am walking around,  but I much prefer to have a paper map when I am planning my route.

Now to plan tomorrow.

Home safely

After a quiet night in Sacramento on Saturday, I  caught a plane to LA the next day. I spent a pleasant afternoon  in Santa Monica. I went to a seafood restaurant for dinner and the first item on the specials board was barramundi from Queensland. Needless to say, I chose something else. The next morning I found a cafe that sold real food and had a very nice omelette that was made from real eggs and mushrooms and spinach that I could recognise and taste.  I pottered along the pier, walked along the waterfront etc. Quite relaxing.

The 2 flights to get home were unremarkable. Noel delivered me to my lovely sunny apartment. Now to washing,  paying bills etc etc.

Road trip 3. 4 states in 1 morning.

On Wednesday the troops arrived back in the evening tired but happy after walking through the river up a canyon for a long way.  For some of the return they apparently floated down the river.

On Thur we breakfasted ( I use the term ' breakfast ' loosely. It seems impossible in Holiday Inns to get anything real that has no gluten or sugar. There are lots of pastry things,  sometimes some scrambled egg stuff  that tastes funny. Wendy says it's made from powdered eggs. There is sometimes little omelette things with a few bits of what maybe vegetables. Filling enough for me. For a change from their normal healthy regime  the kids are allowed free rein , so they are happy.)  Back to where I was, in SW Utah in a little corner of the USA where several states meet. We drove through the NW corner of Arizona into the SW corner of Nevada and then into California.  In the car we had salad stuff for lunch ( a normal practise, bought from Walmart at a reasonable price) but the 2 roadside rest areas we passed were both closed so we stopped at a funny little town. We could not find a park for thE kids to run in. Outside the temperature was a searing 116 degrees F, 45 C. So we had to resort to a peculiar Greek restaurant.  Salad for dinner in Visalia.

On Friday we drove into the Sequoia  National Park to see the giant sequoias. We went on several short walks, wandered through pine forests with these huge trees, and through lovely meadows.  We saw the tree which is reputed to be the biggest tree in the world by volume.

We drove from there to Fresno where we had a very late lunch / early dinner. It was Tahli's 7th birthday . She chose a Japanese Tepanyaki place which was very good. The chef put on an excellent show . One of Tahlis sisters told him it was Tahlis birthday and he made a big fuss of her.  The food was excellent.  We spent the night in Marioposa,  one of the gateway towns to Yosemite.  We decided on the way to give Yosemite a miss- too crowded and we had seen some wonderful places and didnot want to rush, wait in a long queue to get in etc etc. The drive to Mariposa was quiet, rural, very pleasant landforms similar to Australia, but with different trees. Mariposa was a nice little town, busy when we arrived in the evening, but completely dead at 9.30 when wendy and I went for a look in a few shops. Only 1 was open. EveryOne else was in the queues in Yosemite.

Saturday we drove to Sacramento and had lunch in an interetsing old warehouse area which looks like it is regenerating.  Wendy and Co dropped me at a hotel near the airport and drove onto Lake Tahoe where they were meeting Lachs sister and her family for another 2 weeks of road trip.

Road trip 2. 4 states in 4 days

On Sunday,  after breakfast in the NW of Texas we drove into New Mexico, kept going through New Mexico and stopped for the night in Gallup in the west. On Monday morning we passed into Arizona and spent some time in the interesting Petrified forest and painted desert national park. Weird moonscape sort of landscapes. More driving and we got to Tusayan, the nearest town to the Grand Canyon for the night.

Tuesday morning we spent wandering around the southern rim looking down into the amazing Canyon. So many amazing views of different colours and shapes. Late lunch in the car, more driving and we got here,  Springdale,  Utah, the nearest town to Zion National Park in the evening.

This morning,  Wednesday, after a late start ( what a suprise,  everyone was quite tired) we went for a walk in the Canyon in the SE of the Zion NationalPark.  Again, amazing but in a far more personal way.  We walked along the edge of the small river that runs through the Canyon with high high walls either side. I left the others to continue on the walk up the river and came back to the hotel to catch up on a few things. So, maybe more details later on the wonderful places I have seen. Maybe not.

Road trip. Mostly Oklahoma

On Friday I spent the day pottering with Wendy as she raced around doing jobs.
On Saturday morning we all left their home to travel West.  They have a 7 seater car . At first , while we were still in the Orzarks, it was a bit hilly and very dense scrub, but then it was flat for the rest of the day. Miles and miles of crops, some black Angus.  We went through Oklahoma, had dinner in a little town just East of the border with Texas ,  and soon we will set off again after  spending the night just in Texas. Wendy and Lach share the driving,  I sit, look and relax.

Thursday. Chicago to Fort Leonard Wood

Wendy seems to have mastered driving on the wrong side of the road, driving in big cities with much visual 'noise', driving on big crowded freeways with huge trucks and drivers who seem to change lanes much more suddenly than I am used to, and all this with 4 kids in the back who are not always quietly sitting still.  We left at 10 am and arrived here at 7.30pm. Lots of driving.  Stops limited to essential ones.

The countryside was interesting. Lots of very flat farmland, advertising signs that I had no idea what they were advertising, many many shops selling farm machinery with all the wares lined up neatly .  Every few miles there was a big  motel or 3 , making you realise what a large population there is.

Chicago on Wed

On holidays Wendy's kids seem to go to bed late, get up late and then walk miles and miles in the day.  Yesterday we had brunch at some diner that has been  a Chicago institution for a long time.  Then an interesting  day at the art Institute. There is  a kids area where they use an interactive program to answer some questions and they end up with a list of 5 art works to view. The 3 eldest did this and then we set off backwards and forwards looking for the 15 different things.  Wendy tagged along with Estelle.

Then to some iconic popcorn place. We sat eating popcorn on a wall looking at 'Chagall's Four Seasons, a large mosaic mural on another wall.

In the evening we went to a pizza place for some Chicago style pizza. Looks more the shape of quiche but the pastry is pizza dough and the filling is pizza filling not egg.

Chicago and grandaughters

Tuesday was a lovely day.  After a slowish start that included wendy sorting out parking and me trying to sort out transport tickets on a machine that needed a US zip code to use a credit card and would not give change of notes, we set off for a place to eat at called Little Goat. This involved lots of walking. For quite a while I was walking with the older 3 playing a game called 'opposites'. Everything you did and said had to be opposite to the truth.  I discovered it is very difficult to march along the street saying ' left, left, left , right, left' using the opposite foot.  They seemed amused. Later in the day we pretended to ride out trusty steeds as we galloped along the pathway.

Little Goat  was like a modern diner in style with modern diner food. Very interesting, very crowded with all sorts of people, very noisy. I had a modern version of a reuben sandwich with a huge amount of corned beef and lots of fermented veg on gluten free bread. The kids all got crayons and an activity sheet. Twice now I have seen the younger 3 get brought a plastic kids cup of water and Isla,  who is almost as tall as me, gets the same as me and wendy.

Next we went on a 90 minute boat trip of the Chicago river. The commentary was excellent. All about the different architectural styles, history and assorted titbits.

Navy pier was next. A sort of amusement park. We wandered around, had a ride on a huge ferris wheel, then sat down for an early dinner of frozen margaritas for me and wendy, and nachos and salad for everyone.

Monday in chicago

Several hours at Art Institute looking at a small part of a very very large collection on display.

I moved from my hotel to a different one and Wendy, I, L, T and E arrived safely soon after. Lots of delight.

We had dinner and wandered till everyone was exhausted.  Good sleep. Off to see more shortly.

Pottering in Chicago

Firstly, I forgot a couple of odd things about this room. Above the bathroom sink ther are mirrors on 3 sides of the walls. I can see lots and lots of me, about 12 if I turn my head left and 12 to the right.  The place of the toilet roll holder was decided by a contortionist.

I found a nearby place to have an omelette this morning.  I pottered around the streets. A real mix of utilitarian old buildings, fancy old buildings and modern buildings.  Chicago is a windy city and the wind was certainly whistling down the roads between the skyscrapers this morning.  There are some overground railway lines that are a bit off putting. Well, it put me off, walking under a metal contraption not far overhead and a train comes along. It sounds like it is 2 inches above my head. They was also another very loud continuous noise. I appeared to be the only who thought a huge spaceship was landing or something. Turns out it was a hovering helicopter shifting a large steel beam in a building site. The noise was amplified in the wind tunnels.

Chicago is also known for its street art / statues and I wandered around finding some of them.  I spent quite some time this afternoon catching up on photos and emails, but not as many as I would have liked. I found a place in the afternoon that had decent coffee.

Tomorrow afternoon Wendy and her 4 arrive. I am looking forward to seeing them .

Assorted extras that I may want to remember

On the boat one night I had strips of julienned salsify mixed in with another vegetable.

The ginette, a small nocturnal fox , is the fauna emblem of the Ardeche region.

Cevelle de canut is a Lyonnaise  term for a particular type of softish cheese. Literally brains of canut, a derogatory term for the silk weavers.

Souris d'agneau, literally mouse of lamb is a lamb shank

In the parts of France we have been to, in  lifts and buildings the ground floor is labelled r c. The French term for the ground floor is rez de chausee,  pronounced in one quick go as rechausay ( or something like that).  It took me several days of thinking 'rue something' till it clicked.

Saturday. London to Chicago

A day of travel. Uber to London airport, uneventful flight to Frankfurt, left Noel in Frankfurt airport, uneventful flight to Chicago, uber to hotel.

I have only  stayed in apartments on my previous trips to US, never hotels, so I donot know what is standard. This hotel, the cheapest I could find within walking distance of major sights is odd. Huge, old, sort of done up. Really old airconditioner that made the room too noisy and too cold, so with some difficulty, I turned it off.  I could not change the temperature, the dial was rusted and impossible to read. There are no tea making facilities, but I can make myself a pot of filtered coffee, if I am prepared to put up with a powdered milk ( and I think sugar) concoction. I am not.
The bathroom is partly new, but not the shower control which only seems to have 3 settings- hot, medium and cold. The bed was comfy though.

Wed Thur, Fri National Gallery, Kings Langley, Regents Park

On Wednesday we spent most of the morning in the Natonal Gallery, then went to a choral eucharistic in St Martin in the Fields. The church is quite small and has a comfortable feel. The 8 choral scholars were outstanding . The lovely sounds sort of enveloped us. In the evening we had a lovely dinner with Noel's daughter and her partner.

It has been very hot in London - low to mid 30's. Apparently a few days ago was the hottest day since 1976, when I was also in London. Buildings do not cope well, nor do the trains and certainly the people donot. We had difficulty not laughing out loud when we heard an announcement in a  tube  station to remember to drink and to take off excess clothing.

On Thursday we visited friends of Noels of very long standing. We had  lovely day with them, driving round  the villages near them, a lovely lunch in a pub, and just catching up.

Today, Friday, is our last day in London. Neither of us wanted to use our brains  , nor stay in our apartment all day. We caught a bus ( and yes, we got to sit in the front of the top of one of the new hybrid double decker busses) to Regents Park and spent a lovely morning wandering around . There we lots of baby ducks, baby swans and baby geese accompanied by at least one parent.  We shared a salad sitting in  the shade and caught the bus back. Dinner tonight at a local pub.

Tomorrow Noel flies home and I fly to Chicago.

Tuesday Royal Albert Hall

This morning we caught a bus to the Royal Albert Hall and went on a tour. Again, the only way, other than going to a show,  you can get in.  Once again,  it was very interesting for lots of reasons - the history behind the financing  and design, the ingenious design of the roof which was quite revolutionary for the time and the sheer oppulance of the space. We walked in and smiled. I had no idea that apart from concerts they have tennis matches, fancy dinners, ice skating competitions, etc etc. The whole stage area and first 6 rows of seats were designed to be flexible, back 150 years ago.  We sat for a while in the box next to the royal box, then went up and got a completely different view from seats just below the top standing room gallery. We prefer the box. To finance the building, , Prince Albert's colaborator Henry Cole (who did the work) came up with the bright idea of selling seats to the as yet unbuilt building for a lease of 900 years.  Wifey, VR,  bought the first lot, then more were sold, enough to build the building.

After a coffee we went for a wander in Kensington Gardens. Back to our apartment for a late lunch . Noel's daughter came for a while then I wandered the back streets and shops of Chelsea for a few hours. I splurged on some fancy takeaway food for dinner, accompanied by a cheap bottle of red from Sainsburys over the road , from Spain.

Monday - St Pauls and the Globe

After a  coffee in the crypt we sat down with our audio guide. It was the most detailed guide I have ever used- an easy to use menu system with a whole lot of little video clips about different parts of the building and different aspects of the churchs work and life. Amongst other things I learnt that the current building is the 5th church on the site, it is the only baroque church in England with a dome, the current Dean preaches to a person in the back row, and Martin Luther's widow was the first female to preach from the pulpit. We listened, wandered, looked, listened some more.  There are 2 video art installations by a Bill Viola who I will look up. Apparently St Pauls is the first church in England or maybe Europe to have a permanent video installation.  It was about martyrs. Apparently the word martyr is derived from the same root as witness.

We had taken in about as many wondrous things as our brains could handle when a priest announced that there would be a half hour eucharistic service. We went and  after the service spoke to the priest who told us his son lived in Melbourne.

Lunch was somewhat disappointing. Though,  on the plus side, I have discovered that 'baked eggs' in England means just that . 2 times 1 egg in a little iron ramekin baked in the oven.

We walked over the Millenium  bridge to the Globe Theatre and went on a tour - the only way, other than seeing a show, that you can get in.  It was most enjoyable.  The weather has been very hot and that was enough for the day.

Evensong at St Pauls

This morning we did little other than go over the road to a place that was not there when I was here in 2009. It serves lots of gluten free food. For breakfast  I had waffles made from almond meal and spelt ( not GF but I can eat it)  and yummy extra fruit bits. No added sugar. We went for a short walk around a few blocks and bought some food . After lunch we set off  to St Pauls.  On Sundays they say they are not open for sightseeing. We were about half an hour early for evensong and enjoyed just sitting. After evensong, we listened to a Dutch organist give a half hour recital. 6 small,very varied pieces.

We had a nice dinner at a place near St Pauls, caught the tube back and stopped in a cafe in Kings ave Chelsea and paid £8 for a machiato  and a hot choc.  Until now we have found the food to be better value for money than Australia. And you always pay for location.

Fri Lyon, Saturday London

We spent most of our time on Friday in the Beaux Arts museum in Lyon. Amazing collection of old stuff and paintings.  Supposedly the best collection in France outside the Louvre. What we particularly liked was a series of pamphlets they had on different themes. One was nature, one masterpieces, one the colour black.

A few hours ago we arrived in London after lots of trains and steps and escalators.  The tour director made a mistake and decided rather than wait for a taxi at St Pancras to go on the tube for 25 min and then walk. Lots and lots of steps. Now 2 tired people. The apartment seems ok.

Wed and Thurs in Lyon

We spent time on  Wed morning on admin stuff and wandering around streets. In the afternoon  we went on a walking tour of the old part of Lyon. We went into the Cathedral which has some interesting modern stained glass and an amazing clock. We were taken through some of the traboules, narrow covered  passageways between streets that seem part of the buildings. In the evening we had dinner in a local bouchon. In French a bouchon is a cork in a bottle  or a traffic jam. In Lyon it is also the name of a small local, no frills cafe, not fine dining  but delicious traditional home cooking.  Usually there is a fair bit of offal on the menu.

On Thursday we went first to a large park. We wandered around a lake and then through a zoo. We saw some animals we had never seen before, many of which are vulnerable or endangered. We saw a spectacled bear who normally lives in the high Andean forests, a Muellers Bornean gibbon, a L'Hoests monkey, a bat-eared fox and a radiated tortoise with a lovely pattern on its shell. Then we walked through a botanical garden, rows and rows of beds with all sorts of different shrubs and plants. The park was free and there were lots of school groups.

In the afternoon we went to a museum with all sorts of info about the Resistence history and activities in Lyon during WW II.

  Normally in train stations I can understand announcements  in French OK.  But not yesterday. We were on the Metro on our way home from the museum quite tired after all the walking of the morning. The train was stopped at the stop before we wanted to get off. Just before it started there was an announcement that I could not understand. People groaned and everyone started  getting off the train. Someone told us that a suspicious parcel had been found and everyone should leave. Righto, off we got.  So we walked for another 20 minutes or so but along a street we had not seen before and it was full of fancy clothes shops, so I was not rushing. We have often seen armed police or army people wandering around. Once I commented to Noel that the 2 guys who we saw wandering past carrying large guns looked about 15. He replied, No, more like 20. Hmm.

Mon, Tues in Lyon

Yesterday we left the boat, got to the apartment, met the owners, got information on local coffee shops, cafes, markets and on the apartment,  sorted ourselves out and went to lunch at one of the suggested local places, about 100m away.  It was delicious.

Lyon has 2 hills. One is Fourviere with the Basilica and Roman ruins and the other is the Croix Rousse.   In the afternoon we went on a little ' tram' . It is called a tram but it is more like a little narrow bus pulling several carriages. Near the top of the Croix Rouse is a huge wall of several apartment buildings which has been made into a huge detailed mural of life in the area.

We mastered frencH  supermarket shopping , almost. Despite me using my best French, as always I must have thrown in a few Italian words. After i paid she said Buongiorno to me with a big smile, much to the amusement of everyone in the queue who would have heard me and Noel  talking in  English.

This morning we had our coffee and croissant at the cafe one shop away from our front door. Very convenient.   Next to the river near us, near as in 200m away, every morning except Monday there are is a market where  fruit and veg and cheese and meats and flowers are sold. We took a while to work out the country of origin code on the f and v. We bought some camembert , the 1 name we recognised, and asked for some sheep's milk cheese. We bought some of one of the 3 he had. , That is assuming he understood my pronunciation  of mouton.  Who knows. We looked at the range of game birds at one stall and had no clues what most of them were. A few still had head and necks attached. We bought some fruit which we have started on. It is quite delicious.

We caught the funicular to the top of Fourviere and went to the Basilica . It was amazing inside. Very ornate, but the colours, predominantly pale blue, grey and light brown all seemed to make it OK not grossly over the top. So we liked it. There were lots of scenes on the walls all done in mosaics.

Then we went to a museum of the Gallo Roman times of Lyon. It was an interesting building, set into the hillside, with views out to the remains of a Roman ampitheatre and odeon. In Roman times Lyon , or Lugdunum as it was called was the principal town in Gaul and the citizens has rights equal to those in Rome. This was not the norm in Roman colonies.

Then we had lunch in one of the little cafes called bouchons in the old town.

We visited the textile and decorative arts museum, but were underwhelmed.

Now its time for dinner - salad and more of the local viognier  that our host left for us.

Sunday Lyons

PS from  yesterday.  Chalon was on the border of occupied France and Vichy France. The hospital was in occupied France. This caused lots of problems.

This morning we went on a guided tour of Lyon. We will return to the church on the hill, the cobbled lanes in the old town and some of the monuments , museums etc in the newer part of town that we saw .  So,details of them later.

In the afternoon we went by public transport to the place we will be staying in from tomorrow just for a look. We mastered ticket buying from a machine that accepted only coins or cards, but not notes; changed trams or metros several times to different lines and worked out not to put our 2 hour ticket in the receptacle for used tickets( just). Then we went to another place to collect our Lyon discount card that I had previously ordered, got some more tourist information and got some money from an ATM.

We have enjoyed the cruise.

Saturday Chalon-sur-Saone , wine and Beaune

This morning we wandered around Chalon where we were moored over night.  We thought we would first go to the lookout on top of a nearby tower. However, we could not get to the tower so we walked down some old atmospheric cobbled streets of old shops and had a coffee instead , skipped the churches and watched the world go past.

In the afternoon we went by coach through fields and fields of grapes.  We were given lots of information. However Noel was often asleep and lots of the info went over my head. I did manage to note that 80 % of white grapes grown are chardonnay and the rest aligote (with an acute) and most of the red are pinot and the rest gamay noir.

We stopped in what is considered as the centre of the burgandy wine area, Beaune.  We went to an interesting wine tasting . Amongst other things we were told to smell the empty glass after drinking the wine, the smell will probably have changed. After that we visited a place initially established in the 1400s as a hospice and hospital for the poor and destitute. It had an interesting display of how the different rooms were used.

Friday - River bank watching and Vienne

After a slow start we enjoyed out time till lunch alternating  photo sorting, watching the Rhone, blog, watching the boat go through locks, emails, watching the small villages , chatting to each other, watching the odd barge and the industry on the edge of the waterway etc.  All very pleasant.

We arrived in Vienne at lunch. It is about 30 minutes by car south of Lyon, has lots of Roman remains and some interesting medieval buildings. Not too many tourists.
We first looked at the remains of a Roman road and some walls with a modern building built around them. Then a big church which was Romanesque on the bottom and Gothic on the top. Wierd. There was a youth service going on so we left, to return later. Then along an old road to another church , but it was closed.  We then walked up a big hill to a lookout and another church. We were able to look down on and get a good view of yet another Roman theatre and nearby odeon ( a smaller theatre) . We went back to the big church, the Cathedral of Saint Maurice, looked round,  then went back to the boat.

Tuesday, still Avignon; Wed Arles, Pont du Gard; Thur Ardeche gorge

I have spent my spare timing over the past few days talking to people and watching the river bank slide past. So, an abbreviated post to catch up.

Tues we went on a walking tour of Avignon.  We went over the Pope's Palace - quite interesting ,  huge but lots of other visitors. In afternoon we wanted to go to a fort on the other side of the river but did not have enough time. We got about 3/4 of the way and saw good views. 

We travelled through the night to Arles. We went on walking tour which  took us past the Roman ampitheatre and a Roman theatre, through narrow atmospheric streets and past several of Van Goghs subjects. We were shown the elaboratedly carved 12th Century   main door of the Eglise St Trophime and later we went back and looked inside.  There were a lot of d'Aubusson tapestries. We found the almost deserted cloisters. Many of the pillars were carved in a similar manner to those on the front door.

In the afternoon we went to the Pont du Gard aqueduct , an amazing engineering feat of ancient Rome. The bridge is 160ft high and part of a system to bring water from Uzes to Nimes over 30 km away.  Built during the 1st century CE.

This morning we set off early in a bus for a look at a lavender farm, then several stops at lookouts to look down into the Ardeche gorges.

We are moored tonight t a little,place called Tournon which we had  brief wander around before dinner.

Avignon and onto boat

This morning Noel pottered around Avignon while I sat in the hotel lounge reading and catching up on some emails. After lunch we went to the Calvert Museum which was housed in a magnificent 18th private home. We saw lots of paintings and a collection of Egyptian artefacts. Several richly decorated sarcophagi and other bits and pieces.

We boarded the boat at 5pm and were quite impressed with how well laid out the fairly small area was. We easily found a spaCE for our meagre number of belongings.

I am not sure what my Internet access will be like over the next week.  Besides,  I may be very busy watching the river pass by.

Orange

Today we caught the train to Orange, 20 minutes away. The main reason we went was to see the old Roman Theatre there. It is immense. It was built about 2000 years ago. The main feature is the huge  3 story high wall behind the stage. It measures 103 m long and 37m high. The tiered seating was quite steep and  built into the side of a hill and could hold 10,000 people. We went half way up and that was enough. The wall would have been decorated with marble columns and statues in niches but few remain. Today it is used for operas and concerts of all types of music. The stone seating reminded me of my time in Verona and when I went to the Opera in the arena there.

Then we went to look at a Triumphal arch probably built in the reign of Augustus to commemorate veterans of the Gallic wars . Later Tiberius reconstructed it to celebrate victories of Germanicus.

We wandered through fairly deserted streets, it is Sunday, until we found a place to eat. Noel was delighted to choose 'fish and chips' from the menu. I cringed , he said it was a joke. We watched a whole lot of people come out of a church service . The young children were all quite formally dressed. Little boys always with a collared shirt and girls wore a traditional styled dress.

Back in Avignon we wandered around a few more streets and Places. We were interested in a Lutheran church with flying buttresses that were not completely solid. There was a lovely small park nearby that many locals seemed to be enjoying.

An easy day in Avignon

After a very leisurely breakfast in the hotel, we wandered around. The main  tourist attraction in Avignon is the Palace of the Pope's. In the 14th century 6 successive Pope's lived in Avignon .  We will be going in as part of our river cruise so we just wandered past and went into the attached church for a look then up onto a hill behind with good views over Avignon and surrounding areas. We walked around some of the old walls and looked down onto the bridge of the songs fame. We stumbled upon a cafe in a secluded Place and had some salad sitting at a table under large trees. Delightful.

In the afternoon we wandered around lots of the narrow laneways with little shops and  cafes and some of the bigger Places with stately old buildings. We are staying on a little street just of Place d'Horloge, one of the biggest. Our hotel is in an old building with nice rooms but a bizarre arrangement of floor levels. We get out of the lift on the third floor, walk several metres, up to 2 steps, turn left, up another 10 steps, along a corridor, through a sitting area, around a bend and then another few steps before we get to our room, still apparently on the third floor. There are another 2 floors indicated in the lift.

Arezzo to Avignon

A day of travel. Train to Florence, bus to airport, plane to Lyon airport, train to Lyon Part Dieu the main train station in Lyon. On this train  I talked  to a French lady sitting next to me.  She was travelling onwards and was going to the ticket office so we went with her.  This helped us. The station was packed , it was 3.45 ish on a Friday and what we didnot know was that Monday is a public holiday. No wonder it was packed. I saw several bunches of soldiers wandering around with big guns. They all looked very young. The train to Avignon was over crowded , but we got a seat after the first couple of stops and the rest of the trip was uneventful and quite pleasant.  We walked the 900m to our hotel. Dinner was very good.

Thursday, more churches

This morning we went to Pieve di Santa Maria, a nearby church. It was built in the 12th century and is Arezzo's oldest.  It's facade was severe but ornate at the same time. The book says Romanesque, Inside it was a chalky grey colour with plenty of light and relatively unadorned.  The sanctuary was raised.  We quite liked it.

Next we walked back to the Duomo to look at a P d F fresco that we had missed called Mary Magdalena. Next was another church, the Basilica of San Domenico. It was small, dark,  had some old deteriorating frescos and the wooden cross that the book said was worth a visit was definitely not to our taste.

Next stop was the house of Giogio Vasari. He was born in Arezzo in 1511. He became a painter, architect and biographer. He frescoed most of his house with portraits of people and mythological creatures.

We went to the nearby museum of medieval and modern art. The book , and the sign on the door said it was open from 8. 30 to 7pm . Trouble is,  on Thursdays you could only get in at 8.30 and 10.  It was 12, so no museum for us.  Time for lunch instead.

In the afternoon we walked several kms to a church  called Santa Maria della Grazie. It is set in it's own walled garden which is plain but very pleasant.
The church was quite small but we thought it was beautiful., well worth the walk.

Sanspolcro

We caught a bus from Arezzo to Sansepolcro,  1 hour drive NE of Arezzo. Sansepolcro is the birthplace of Piero della Francesca.  The old part is a pretty, well kept walled town. The museum used to be a palace and now houses, amongst other things a large PdF fresco.  It was under restoration and we only got to see half of it. There was an exhibition of an early 19th century art historian's theories about the similarities between PdF and Caravaggio. On display was a Caravaggio that he had owned.

Next we went to see the house where PdF was born. There was an interesting  film about how early on in his career he had studied geometry and had used it to get proper perspective in his paintings, something he was known for.

We were wandering  along a street looking at the cafes trying to decide where to eat. A local took us round a corner to a place she often ate at. Another nice meal.

We then caught a bus to Monterchi, 30 minutes S of Sansepolcro.  We walked from the bus stop up a hill ( Noel said it was a mountain) , round about a bit  then arrived at a place that was built to house a particular fresco of PdF, the pregnant madonna. We were a bit underwhelmed. We did however enjoy the film about his life that we watched.

The bus ride back to Arezzo went well. There were only about 10 people on the 3 buses we caught, they only run ever few hours and not all the buses stop at all the places , so scheduling the day was a bit tricky. If the last bus had not arrived we would have had a 4 hour wait or an hours walk to a different bus route.

We bought some delicious things from the very well equipped supermarket for dinner. We are staying in  a little one way street opposite a medium sized piazza. Cars are parked down one side only and there is just room for cars to pass. The traffic stops for delivery vans who just stop in the street.  People walk up and down the street  seemingly disregarding the traffic.  Almost directly over the road from our front door is a little bar where we  have our first cappucino of the morning  and our  breakfast roll. Squeezed onto the pavement are 2 little tables. Before dinner we sat there having a drink and some nibbles for an hour watching the local life.

Churches and a fort

We started the day in the Basilica of San Francesco. The walls of the part of the church behind the altar were covered in a whole series of frescoes by Piero della Francesca. These told the story known as the Legend of the True Cross in which the wood used for Jesus' s cross is followed from a seed planted Adam's mouth to where  it is brought back to Jerusalem many years later by Heraclius.

In the crypt of the church we saw an exhibition of old photos of Arezzo  and a display of travellers photos from about 100 years ago as they did their Grand Tour. We sat in a cafe watching the world go past while we considered our next activity.

After lunch we walked back to the fort and wandered around inside. The restoration process is on going.  We walked to the Duomo but it was not yet open after its afternoon siesta. What a pity, we had to go to another cafe. The Gothic style was pleasing in its simplicity.  I liked the light timber  modern chairs for the people officiating in the services.

Another nice dinner. Smoked swordfish for appetiser, chicche ( small gnocchi) with seafood for primi, baked orata ( a fish) and grilled chicken for secondi,  friarielle  ( like spinach but less pleasnt) and grilled eggplant  for contorni.  Accompanied by a glass of local chianti and local valdichiana. Looking out over a piazza. Life is tough.

Monday

Over the road from us is a little bar and non touristy restaurant. We had coffee and a croissant ( not on my diet)  there then went to the tourist bureau. I had read they opened at 9.30 but, unfortunately, it was 10. We went to look at the remains of an old Roman ampitheatre. After getting a proper map from the tourist office,  and trying with no success to get a map of the local buses  from the nearby transport office, ( well, the man behind the desk said he had none, so I  took a,photo of the map on the wall)  we had another coffee . We went to Tim,  the modem shop, had to wait for about 20 minutes, took ages while the girl fiddled, saw that it worked for her, came back to the apartment and , unfortunately, it would not work for us. Back to the shop, tried again. Back here it worked, but it does not work continuously. We are not bothering any more.

I was ready for my large glass of sangiovese with lunch.

I planned a route for the afternoon, which  did not quite work out but it was a very relaxing afternoon. About 300 m from us is the main piazza in Arezzo. It was almost deserted so we sat at a table on the edge and looked at all the lovely buildings over a fruit juice. Then we walked up the hill to a fort at the top of the hill. It was closed on Mondays. We pottered around the park adjacent to the old walls looking at the views over the eastern Tuscan countryside for a while. Looking at the Duomo was next on the list, but instead we had a drink from a little bar in the middle of the park ( second drink of the day not on my diet) watching the hills. 

Getting to Arezzo

Getting to Arezzo

All went smoothly. We realised once again how far Australia is from anywhere else. We also appreciate how lucky we are not to be flying cattle class. The shower in Munich was particularly welcome. The flight from Munich to Rome over the snow - clad mountains was quite spectacular.

We were a bit concerned about how long we would have to queue for in Rome because we had been warned by Lufthanser that because of the G7 summit in Taormina that internal border checks had been reinstated. According to the quoted dates they would still be in place when we went through. We landed on time, walked straight through the border checking booths, not an official in sight, quickly found the baggage carousel, read that the baggage from our flight was expected in 15 minutes, collected our bags about 8 minutes late, walked straight through the customs controls, again, not an official in sight, went straight to the train station , bought tickets to Arezzo and got onto a train to Rome main station,  Termini, which left about 5 minutes later. I looked at my watch and realized only about 30 minutes had passed. We were able to catch an earlier train than expected and we very pleased to finally get to our apartment at 4pm.

After sorting ourselves out, we set off to find a particular mobile phone and modem shop . We had been told by our landlady that we had to get them to sort out the modem for us and  relieve us of €15 so that we could have a wifi connection.  Unfortunately they were closed. So we set off in the direction of  a pizzeria that i had read of that made gluten free pizzas. It took us ages to get there because there were barriers up all around the  town. We saw some women ( I am assuming women but they were so heavily made up or masked that maybe not)  wearing long lavish brightly coloured gowns  parading down a road , followed by all sorts of old cars. Then we saw some long distance runners. Arezzo is a hill top town. The course would not have been easy. We took ages to get to our destination because it was hard to cross roads because of the barriers. We gave up when we found ourselves on the wrong side of the road to our destjnation and stopped for a glass of wine at a cafe.  Noel played safe but I tried a vernaccia from Sienna.

We then found an excellent supermarket for some supplies , including dinner from their deli which we enjoyed in our apartment. We have found about 6 stove top espresso makers of different sizes but have to boil water for our tea in a saucepan.