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.