.......idle jottings

[Jim Avery]

Oh Mr Hum... Mr Ragnar doth write an illuminating and educational travel journal, don't you concur?

 

 

Ole Ragnar aint bad.......for a Californio.:eek::D

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

PS - One thing I forgot to mention is that MSM is very worthy of a two night stay. There are several museums on site, as well as the abbey, that we did not have time to visit. Plus there are guided walks out onto the mud flats that people seemed to enjoy. And there is a variety of restaurants, both on the Mont and a short, free shuttle ride away. We plan to return if ever in the Niomandy area again. Which is likely, as we loved the Brittany/Normandy area.

[vandrefalk]

Ragnar,

I am thoroughly enjoying your reports! We were in MSM last Aug/Sep and hiked all the way to the top :eek: Did you have the famous omelet? I had been to St Michael's Mount (off the coast of Cornwall) some years ago and had a lovely watercolor of it at low tide. Fortunately, I was able to find a similar one of MSM -- they now hang side by side in my travel room.

 

We also went to Normandy some months before that and toured all the beaches (well, I thought we did but DH assures me we missed a lot and have to go back). So I'm especially looking forward to more stories!!

 

Leave tomorrow for Athens and SD I!

Vandrefalk

[Jim Avery]

Bon Voyage Karen. All the best.

Jim & Lois:D

[ho-hum]

This afternoon Hum is being entertained by a humble Bordeaux from Chateau Clos de la Tour.

It is a 2001 and though it is old, in Bordeaux years it is still a youth with some awkward edges.

Edges which Hum likes......oh yes.

When first hearing the Sex Pistols something stirred in Hum.

And this wine too still has "attitude".

 

It is late afternoon on a Friday, normally a preserve for peace and idleness but a busy electrician is outside altering and extending the external lighting. Incorporating new low level lights fitted with blue LED bulbs illuminating discreetly certain parts of the garden: an olive tree there, a pair of ex-Church columns there and a row of hedge.

A combination of style, sophistication and the hint of a deterrent to those wanting to break into the "pile" and "nick" Hum's wines !

Hum thinks the blue light will deter the blaggards as they reflect (unconsciously of course) that there may be "rozzers" (policemen to you) about in their flashing lit Jaguars (like Inspector Morse) and they would be apprehended and "banged to rights" uttering "it's a fair cop guv" as they are led away in their striped vests and the masks ripped from their heads.

No one steals Hum's wine !

 

So, now is the time to read with relish Raggy's exploits on the Continent.

Here goes.

 

You know, you need'nt pay a fortune for good Bordeaux.

Try the provincial areas. They will be less well finished but they will be honest, earthy, impressive. You will be satisfied.

 

Oh the electrician has decided he wishes to retire early !!!

An inspection of the estate reveals he has worked hard indeed and with the need for more materials, he can be allowed to leave......

And all the while Hum is receiving calls from Blondie saying there is a "pop up French market" in the nearby town and is there anything Hum wants.

Well yes, is the Pope a Catholic !!!

Cheeses, pates, saucisson, olives, breads, butter....any oysters ?

No !

So no "bulots" (whelks to you) either.......Hum loves whelks, cockles..mmmmm

 

Back to Raggy.....

Edited October 2, 2015 by ho-hum

[Jim Avery]

So no "bulots" (whelks to you) either.......Hum loves whelks, cockles..mmmmm

 

Brought back memories of years ago when I had a small shipyard in Florida. We had hauled out a tired old shrimp boat (no, not Forrest Gump's Shrimp Boat but close) that had a heavily fouled bottom, complete with oysters. The old Captain and his deckhand wife, after refusing a pressure cleaning of the barnacles, etc. off of the bottom of the boat, proceeded to break out the Tabasco and saltines and began to peel the oysters off the bottom of the boat, open them and eat them on the spot........Good eatin'.

[kathyanddanny]

Jim!

 

Yucky!!! LOL

[abenaki]

Well penned old Hum. A column for your highlights reel.

 

But the blue lights...... worrysome, don't you think? Is there something wrong with a very light amber, the colour of candles and torchlight flickering on your very venerable bits and pieces. Subtle, of course. Perhaps you might highlight an old rusted garden urn with some intense flesh pink for contrast. No problem at all, you are quite welcome, think nothing of it.

 

I am guessing that blue isn't going to fly with Blondie, but you can try your odd ideas if you like. She will no doubt opt for something a little more tasteful.....

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

June 6th, 1944

 

I'm finding it difficult to describe our visit to Normandy. Normandy is arguably the most beautiful place I've ever been, with the rolling hills, incredible beaches and coastal bluffs, quaint villages and farms, and bustling towns and small cities. But as a baby-boomer, even the name of the place evokes thoughts of what many of our parents' generation experienced there. Every little town a former battlefield - St. Lo, St Mere Eglise, Avranches, and on it goes. Every hedgerow likely the site of a pitched battle. And to the French peoples' credit, there are monuments to that day in almost every town. The cognitive dissonance between the ingrained cultural memories of the invasion and the utter beauty of Normandy is a bit difficult to process. I envy a bit the younger generations that view WWII as just something from a textbook, as they can fully enjoy all the great things the Normandy area has to offer, without the shadows of the past.

 

On with the travelogue. We convince the nav system to accept Avranches as our next destination, and off we go! Avranches was liberated by Patton and has an impressive monument to him, complete with a well preserved Sherman tank, in the town center. The town is quite pretty (already violating my pledge not to call everything in France pretty) and is situated in highlands above the MSM bay. Another place we wished we had more time to spend at. After Avranches we head to St. Lo, on the way to Saint Mere Eglise. There was no particular sight I wanted to see at St. Lo, it was just one of those places I'd wanted to see, because it was the site of a major battle early in the liberation of France, with fierce hedgerow fighting. After seeing the hedgerow country, we had a great appreciation for the difficulty the hedgerows created.

 

After St. Lo we pull into Saint Mere Eglise and visit the famous church there and the nearby WWII museum. The church area is the place where a group of American paratroopers was accidentally dropped right onto strong German position. The event is immortalized by a mannequin of a paratrooper hanging from his parachute from the roof of the church. We had cafe au laits at a cafe right across the square from the paratrooper. The church itself is worth a looksee.

 

Rejuvenated by our coffees, we do a little shopping then head off for Utah beach, one of the American landing beaches on D-day. Not going to attempt to describe Utah beach, Omaha beach, Pointe du Hoc, the American cemetery, or any of the other D-day related sites we visited while in Normandy, these are places everyone should visit, and form their own impressions.

 

After Utah beach, we headed for Bayeux, our home for the next three nights. Bayeux is a nice, little, walkable town, a great base for exploring the Normandy area. After checking in, we explored a bit on foot and Mrs D's shutter was clicking rapidly. Assuming we were going to be tired on arriving in Bayeux, I had made dinner reservations in advance at the hotel. As we had gotten in early and the hotel restaurant looked a bit stuffy for our mood, we canceled the reservation and struck out again on foot to find pot luck. Funny, I had made reservations in advance for all three nights at various restaurants but we ended canceling them all and just let luck guide us to dinner each night :-)

 

For our first night in Bayeux we stumbled upon a gourmet-pizza type Italian place with nice modern furnishings in an ancient stone and timber building. This suited our fancies so we settled into a nice table (the only one left) and had foie gras, salads, and individual brick-oven pizzas, all washed down with, in ho-hum's honor, some nice provincial rose'! Magnifique! After dinner we stopped into several small bars in search of a good beer, but as I was to discover over the course of the trip, good beer cannot be had in these parts of France, only horrid Leffe and an insipid german pils. Oh, and the ever-present Heineken, skunk smell and all... And I spent significant time looking, even in grocery stores... Heard a rumor from a vigneron in St. Emillion that there is a bit of a micro brew movement forming in Northern France. But this is a serious business opportunity for enterprising young brewmasters. Despite the deeply ingrained wine culture in France, I think American style micro brews would be a hit amongst the younger crowd in France. Europe in general needs a big hoppy slap in the face to shake up their beer cultures. European beer - yawn, boring.

 

Next morning it is raining so we take our time getting ready and spring for the buffet breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast the rain petered out and we set off for the D-day sites. By the time we got to Pointe du Hoc the sky was glorious, mostly sapphire blue with high, stark clouds. The polar opposite of the weather on D-day, but the photos Mrs D took are spectacular. We spent the day visiting various sites, having a late lunch in full view of the Mulberry Harbor remnants at Arromanches. Arromanches is, again, a quaint, pretty little town, with a bustling beach front shopping/tourist district. The Mulberry Harbor played a key role in the invasion of France. Good old British ingenuity!

 

After a full day of touring, we returned to Bayeux and went for a stroll along the small river that runs through it, admiring the water management systems that brought water to the water wheels that powered industry there in the past. On our meander we discovered a nice riverside open air restaurant and so called and canceled our reservation at a fine-dining type restaurant that I had made fir later in the evening. We settled into a cozy table near a heater right on the waters edge and ordered a couple of glasses of champagne and some nibbles. We progressed this way ordering a bit at a time from the patient waiter. Somewhere along the way we ordered a bottle of a red from the Loire valley. A couple of hours latter we wandered around, getting to the Bayeux tapestry museum well after it closed. An act we repeated the next day and so never saw the tapestry... "More wine dear, or would you rather go look at some old cloth?"

 

The next day we hit the bricks and rustle up some croissants and espressos for breakfast then return to the hotel to get the car and head out. As I had promised Mrs D only two days of D-day stuff, we headed off to Honfleur and Rouen, as Mrs D had read about their photogenic qualities. Honfleur is a smaller, more quaint place than Rouen. It IS quite photogenic, and seems a popular place for French tourists. The restaurant-ringed harbor is very pleasant and we had some good bouillabaisse at one of the restaurants, washed down with a couple of glasses of a white from the Loire Valley. We walked quite a bit around the area, even back into some more residential areas, as Mrs D found that the lighting agreed with her camera. The weather was on and off moderate rain with periods of sun blazing between clouds.

 

Then on to Rouen. Rouen is a much bigger city and it took a while to drive into the city center to visit the big cathedral and its environs. Once we got close to the cathedral the nav system was not of any use for finding parking, so we winged it. I spotted a taxi heading in towards the cathedral, on cobbles under some big trees. We found previously this type if area often shelters parking so I followed the taxi. Well he pulled up right next to the cathedral and discharged a very frail little old lady and her caretaker. I squeezed past the taxi carefully and when my attention was fully back to the front I didn't see any other cars, but lots of pedestrians. I drove on until forced to turn on another street that was obviously a pedestrian-only shopping street - oops! I did the worlds quickest three point u-turn and sheepishly waved nicely to all the glaring pedestrians that had to move out of the way so that I could get the *German BMW* off the pedestrian paths and out of the cathedral square before the gendarmes figured we were car bombers and started shooting at us :-( Somehow we managed to escape without getting caught and hauled off to the pokey. As God smiles upon drunks and lost American tourists, just as we exited the now obvious handicapped drop off driveway for the cathedral, a street parking space 100 yards from the cathedral opened up and I slid the car right into the space. This time it was a pre-pay machine just a few steps from the car :-)

 

After sitting momentarily for me to get my wits about me again, we set off on a photo safari of the cathedral, the City Hall, some sculpted archways over some pedestrian streets, and the other two churches near the cathedral. One if the churches' exterior is still riddled with bullet holes from the war.

 

Upon return to Bayeux that evening we walked down to the local grocery store and picked up some charcuterie, cheese, bread, and wine and had dinner in our room while packing up to depart for the Loire valley early the next morning.

 

Next up: tanks, Tanks, TANKS!!! Oh, and a few boring old chateaux's.

[Jim Avery]

Fantastic job Ragnar! We have been to the Normandy area and share your observations. It is a totally different France from what most tourists see. We are enjoying your tales of traveling in France. Can't wait for the TANKS!:D

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Thanks Jim!

 

One anecdote I forgot to include: One evening while walking down a semi-major street in Bayeux we could not help but notice this old Frenchman feeding his cat on his small kitchen table, in his tiny apartment at street level. His curtains were wide open an the kitchen lit by a bright bare bulb on the ceiling. I convinced Mrs D that it would be an invasion of privacy to take a photo of him through his window. Well, another night we were walking down the same street and the cat was sitting in the window, while the old man sat at his kitchen table watching a small tv and drinking a bottle of red wine. Classic. I had to literally drag Mrs D away to prevent her from taking a photo. Imagine if the flash had gone off....

[ho-hum]

"You spin me right round, baby, right round".

 

RIGHT ROUND LIKE A BABY, ROUND ROUND, ROUND ......HAHAHA

 

Traffic circles. .

SO MANY !!!!! HUM KNOWS.

 

Sat Nav.......

YOU SHOULD HAVE USED THE CHARLES AZNAVOR VOICE !

 

IF YOU USED MAGGIE'S SAT NAV YOU WOULD JUST BE GOING RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT ! HAHAHA

 

Fast French drivers........

THEY ARE ALL RUSHING TO THE NEXT RENDEZVOUS WITH THEIR LOVERS !!!

Mon Dieu, I have Fifi at 2.0pm and Brigitte at 3.0pm.....what is this stupid man doing in the black BMW in front of me ....... If I knew any better I would guess he is American driving four times round that roundabout !

 

We arrived at Cancale too early for lunch

EVEN 7 YEAR OLD ANOREXICS COULD DO LUNCH IN CANACALE !!!

24 MIXED OYSTERS & A BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE PER PERSON IS EXPECTED !

 

Side note: after a week or so in France we developed a severe craving for chips and salsa...."......

.....HUM TOO !!!

 

Well, Mrs D is an oyster fanatic, so she was in hog heaven! She powered through two dozen on the halfshell herself, while ol' Ragnar was more reserved and only ate a dozen. .

BRAVO MRS.D !!!!! YOU DID EAT OYSTERS......NO CHAMPAGNE ?

"ME AND MRS.D, WE HAVE A THING GOING ON........LALLAALA...DONT KNOW REST OF THE WORDS"

 

We heathens missed our cocktail sauce, tabasco, and horseradish :-)"....

YOU SAID IT.......A COMPLETE FRIGGING WASTE.

HOW MUCH COCA-COLA DO YOU LIKE IN YOUR SINGLE MALT ?

HEATHENS RIGHT.

 

We then took photos of the oyster farming operations and walked out to the end of the local pier to take photos of all the boats, some rather large, resting on their keels in the mud. It was low tide and the bay at Cancale has extreme tide swings.".

FEELING VERY SLEEPY....ZZZZZZ...

 

All the energetic photo taking worked off the oysters so strolled down the long line of seafood restaurants brimming with tourists, mostly French by the way, pawing at their seafood towers".

YOU DON'T SAY........YOU ARE IN RUDDY FRANCE......OYSTER CAPITAL OF THE UNIVERSE...OF COURSE THERE WILL BE FRENCH !!

 

The oysters had sated our appetite for seafood, so we settled into a sidewalk creperie and had some savorie crepes for a light lunch".

TELL ME YOU HAD CALVADOS TOOO.......YOU DID'NT HAVE CALVADOS !!

HEATHENS IS AN UNDER-STATEMENT

 

"Our visit to beautiful Cancale complete, it was time to extricate the car from the "payant" parking lot. A general note on parking lots in France, you often take a ticket on entering and then find a machine to read the ticket and accept your payment. You pay when you return to the lot, and then you have a few minutes to exit. Only rub with this system is that the payment machine is not necessarily in the lot! You may have to hunt in a outward spiraling search pattern to find the machine, or a sign pointing to where the machine may be hiding. Don't worry, you are not losing your mind, it is just the way they do it, you will find the machine eventually. Oh, and once you find the machine, the real fun begins. Some would take our credit cards but many rejected them (same goes for the automated toll booths on the toll roads). Some would accept 5, 10, or 20 euro notes, while others would only accept coins. But it eventually works its self out, and often gives an opportunity to go buy an espresso in order to get change.".

FASCINATING..........SAID WITH HEAVY IRONY. FEELING VERY SLEEPY AGAIN......ZZZZZ

 

"Car successfully extracted from the lot (this machine was 100 meters from the lot, out of sight behind a building...), we head off in search of Mont Saint Michel, the site of our first night's hotel.".

METRES ACTUALLY........OH WHY FRIGGING BOTHER

 

But that, friends, is a story for another time.

 

Wonderful Raggy, simply wonderful.

 

Sorry for tardy reply......"affairs of State, affairs of State"...,if it's not Prime Minister Cameron, then its Obama .... oh and the Pope.

Ho Hum's advice to them is the same "grow some !"

 

PS Hum is not SHOUTING. When he first replied he used CAPITALS TO DISTINGUISH AGAINST YOUR POST PARTS ..... To make it easier to follow.

Edited October 3, 2015 by ho-hum

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

"YOU DID EAT OYSTERS......NO CHAMPAGNE ?" -- Not at Cancale, we bought from oyster mongers right at the waters edge and sat on concrete steps leading down to the sand. When done you just dump the shells right on the sand! The more conscientious deposit their plates and used lemons in a trash can.

 

By the way, we found the oysters served at our hotel in MSM to be much better, plumper and not as iodiney. They said they were from the Normandy area, forget which town.

 

"Calvados" -- Only sprinkled on several desserts we had.

 

 

"YOU DON'T SAY........YOU ARE IN RUDDY FRANCE......OYSTER CAPITAL OF THE UNIVERSE...OF COURSE THERE WILL BE FRENCH !!" -- Was going to bring this up eventually, but we found it interesting that it was mostly French tourists in all the areas we visited. Very rare to overhear english or german being spoken. I was expecting these places to be tourist traps where the French seperated the foreigners from their euros.... Even the most touristy town of all, Sarlat, was predominently French speaking tourists. Same went for the D-day sites.

 

Which reminds me to comment on the lack of Americans at the D-day sites. The youngest of the WWII veterens are in their 90s and have likely already visited the sites, with their families. We only saw one or two of these vets the entire time. You could tell they were vets by the look in their eyes. I expect from now on these sites will see very few American visitors. I hope the US and the French continue to maintain them in such good condition.

Edited October 3, 2015 by Ragnar Danneskjold

[DisneyJen]

Fantastic job Ragnar! We have been to the Normandy area and share your observations. It is a totally different France from what most tourists see. We are enjoying your tales of traveling in France. Can't wait for the TANKS!:D

 

Echoing Jim's sentiments on a wonderful travel log.

 

DJ's DH and I agree that the Normandy region is a totally different experience than say Paris or the rest of France.:eek:

[DisneyJen]

"

 

"Calvados" -- Only sprinkled on several desserts we had.

 

 

Oh my ... you really do need to get out of Cali more often:eek:

 

Really good Calvados is a wonderful digestif.

[ho-hum]

Reminds me of what Madame Bollinger once said about champagne:

 

"I drink it when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes, I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it if I am; Otherwise I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty."

 

One of the best quotes ever, thankyou for quoting it.

You know life is good when you hear these kind of words.

Words of consolation and friendship......we all know happy, we all know sad.

 

Another great quote was "I'm drinking stars" by Dom Perignon: Hum's and Blondie's favourite tipple.

 

You know Dave, champagne is often considered an elitist tipple and in some respects that is true but you know the families of vignerons (and naturally including women in far greater numbers than any other tipple by the way and for a damn good reason too: their palates are generally more discerning. So Hum's not be patronising) are some of the hardest working people Hum knows and they are true artisans.

 

If you do a trip around Champagne and pop into a bar for a bite and a drink for lunch, there you will find men who have been working the vineyards with coupe de champagne glasses. These are big burly brutes who know their grapes and talk wondrously about champagne in amazing terms.

You feel about champagne differently after that.

And the makers. They live in small houses with deep, deep cellars. Generations of them. Proud of their villages. Proud of their contribution to society.

Hum and Blondie love champagne.

 

Apologies for the delay in replying Commodore........life eh ?

[ho-hum]

It is not possible to put the link in here, so gcmv copied the whole passage:

 

Highest distinction 5-stars-plus: Berlitz Cruise Guide 2016 awards EUROPA and EUROPA 2

 

›Top distinction for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises' two luxury ships

›HANSEATIC: Only 5-star expedition cruise ship

›Berlitz Cruise Guide 2016 now published

 

In the 31th edition of the “Berlitz Cruising & Cruise Ships 2016” guide, EUROPA and EUROPA 2, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ luxury ships, have defended their pole position and have been awarded the highest distinction as the only 5-stars-plus cruise ships worldwide. The HANSEATIC was ranked as the only 5-star expedition ship globally among the group of “boutique ships”.

 

Attaining 1,860 points out of a possible 2,000, the EUROPA 2 achieved the highest score among all ships and has been awarded 5-stars-plus for the third consecutive time. The EUROPA, which has achieved this award for the 16th year consecutively, received 1,852 points. Hence, both ships lead the ranking in the category “top 5 small ships” with 251 to 750 passengers” and are global leaders. The HANSEATIC has retained its 5-star rating as the only expedition ship globally, achieving 1,758 points; the BREMEN received the distinction 4-stars-plus with 1,555 points.

 

“Both are beautiful ships to sail aboard”, comments Douglas Ward, author of the Berlitz Cruise Guide on EUROPA and EUROPA 2 “with an outstanding amount of space per passenger, high-ceilinged passageways, a superb range of dining venues and types of cuisine, and attentive, friendly, yet unobtrusive personal service. Both ships have proven themselves to be unbeatable yet again.”

 

“Both, the EUROPA and EUROPA 2 embody two very different luxury concepts – one the philosophy of traditional luxury and one contemporary luxury. Both set global standards in the luxury cruise industry. The ratings 5-stars-plus and the HANSEATIC awarded the only 5-stars expedition ship, are very special accolades, reflecting our performance and our standards of quality, proving once more our role as the foremost provider of luxury cruises” says Karl J. Pojer, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. “A special thanks therefore goes to our crew on board the ships, as well as our team of staff in Hamburg, who constantly strive hard to create a once-in-a-lifetime, distinguished experience for our guests.”

 

The 31th edition of Berlitz Cruise guide the author Douglas Ward and his team tested a total of 275 cruise ships from large to small and scored them based on criteria such as ship fittings, accommodation, food quality, service, crew, entertainment and the cruise experience.

 

 

Gcmv will not let up to convince ho-hum sailing on the E2! ;)

 

Hum will go on Europa 2 !

 

Hamburg to Southampton over 3 days.....2017 maybe.

 

Are the ship's engines diesel by any chance ?

[Jim Avery]

Hum will go on Europa 2 !

 

Hamburg to Southampton over 3 days.....2017 maybe.

 

Are the ship's engines diesel by any chance ?

 

Best I can tell, the slaves in Steerage have to row. We know you will be appropriately ensconced in a suite.:D

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

A word of caution on E2, they advertise as family friendly. And they limit the number of children allowed aboard to "only" ten percent of the passenger load :eek:

 

Also, they have a liberal smoking policy.

 

And you have to sign chits for wine/drinks.

[Jim Avery]

A word of caution on E2, they advertise as family friendly. And they limit the number of children allowed aboard to "only" ten percent of the passenger load :eek:

 

Also, they have a liberal smoking policy.

 

And you have to sign chits for wine/drinks.

 

Sounds a bit like Costa.:eek::D

[ho-hum]

The perception that the French are all revolting peasants has finally been quashed. A trip to Franceland is on the cards me thinks.

 

Oh Mr Hum... Mr Ragnar doth write an illuminating and educational travel journal, don't you concur?

 

As you can see dear chap, Hum has been a tad tardy in reading the works of Raggy but now excited that he has raised temperatures with bosoms......always a winner here at Chateau Hum (size un-important.........and for those unfortunate ladies devastated by cancer.....then no bother whatsoever: appeal for Hum has changed over the years. A lady with or without anatomical appendages matters not a jot....femininity has always been so much more than wobbly, frontal mounds and Hum is sure that goes for most males ........over 16. Apologies if Hum's word seem insensitive. Hum has lost one dearest chum to this condition: attended alternate treatment sessions, the lot.....sadly to no avail but she was loved and is missed and Hum would never wish to cause upset concerning this condition).

 

So bosoms then.....better get on to the next episode by Raggy !

 

Hum felt RAGGY's first part concentrated too much on actual travelling though Hum too has been over obsessed with passing through customs in the US.....and on more than one occasion.

The second episode was an improvement but he is not gorging on the delights Franceland (haha ...love it) has to offer unlike Madame D. She's got it right but sadly very little imbibing (oh yes the drink drive aspect must be observed of course).

 

Hum is a little behind........though many think he is a "big a**e".

No what is implied is that Hum's attention has been diverted to the chores of a lay householder and his time has been somewhat limited just recently.

But bosoms beckon......wayhey !

[commodoredave]

One of the best quotes ever, thankyou for quoting it.

You know life is good when you hear these kind of words.

Words of consolation and friendship......we all know happy, we all know sad.

 

Another great quote was "I'm drinking stars" by Dom Perignon: Hum's and Blondie's favourite tipple.

 

You know Dave, champagne is often considered an elitist tipple and in some respects that is true but you know the families of vignerons (and naturally including women in far greater numbers than any other tipple by the way and for a damn good reason too: their palates are generally more discerning. So Hum's not be patronising) are some of the hardest working people Hum knows and they are true artisans.

 

If you do a trip around Champagne and pop into a bar for a bite and a drink for lunch, there you will find men who have been working the vineyards with coupe de champagne glasses. These are big burly brutes who know their grapes and talk wondrously about champagne in amazing terms.

You feel about champagne differently after that.

And the makers. They live in small houses with deep, deep cellars. Generations of them. Proud of their villages. Proud of their contribution to society.

Hum and Blondie love champagne.

 

Apologies for the delay in replying Commodore........life eh ?

 

“Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne!” – Winston Churchill

[commander courageous]

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still

be ugly"

 

Probably said after consuming copious amounts of bad champagne. :)

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Yes, the problem with being vagabonds was the very limited opportunity to sample the ample cornicopia of wines, spirits, etc. during the day. We also could only window shop in charcuteries and fromageries. Only a few times were we able to get the goods for a picnic, or supper in our room.

 

Though I chose lodging within walking distance of several fine dining restaurants, and made reservations in advance, we were often too tired to bother dressing up. So many gourmet opportunities where replaced by simpler fare, while wearing jeans and South Park t-shirts... "Respect Ma Ah-thoritehh!"

 

However, many nights we had a good (well, over €100 at least) bottle of wine. Though a couple of nights we had the house white by the carafe and, luckily, it was good.

 

So all-in-all, we only had a small sampling of the culinary wonders we knew were available. If food and wine is to be the focus of a trip to France, I suggest staying at least four days in each place, and rent an apartment or gite rather than stay in a hotel. Oh, and learn to find "cafe moulu" at the grocery store...

Edited October 4, 2015 by Ragnar Danneskjold

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Tanks for the memories.

 

D-day done, we program in the Musee des Blindes into the nav (it actually has it, due, no doubt, to the large number if German tanks housed there). This will be our longest drive so far in the trip, almost 200 miles in one shot.

 

The route to the museum in Saumur takes us through the outskirts of Le Mans. As we leave the Normandy area, the terrain becomes more hilly and forested, with scattered farms and cattle operations. You guessed it, all beautiful as usual. As we approached Le Mans we wished we had time to drive around there a bit, but like so many other interesting, beckoning places, we just wave as we pass by.

 

We reach Saumur in good time, and admire its simple charm. Finally, the nav announces we have arrived at the Musee, but it is nowhere to be seen. Having a lot of experience using nav systems to go to wineries in California, I know they often like to send you to some disused back entrance, once reserved for mule-drawn wagons of "fertilizer". So I started the outward spiral search pattern and soon spied a high fence with an opaque, closed gate. I think "that looks like a good way to bring in old tanks on a flatbed truck", so started a right-turn only search pattern and was soon rewarded with the sight of the front entrance to the Musee :-)

 

As soon as you drive past the gates to the parking area there are tanks in every direction, including a bunch in a staging area in various stages of restoration. But don't get too distracted by this tidbit, the main event is inside. You walk into a rather unassuming gift shop, complete with espresso and other vending machines. The nice lady at the counter sells you tickets and points you to the unattended entrance to the Musee proper. You first take in a great display of the history of the tank, focused on WWI, from the little french tank with just a manual turret armed only with a machine gun to the mammoth land ship with cannons poking out both sides and bristling with machine guns. Very impressive and well done display, with some info in english.

 

Then you exit this large room into a mammoth display hall with almost every type of German WWII armor and gun. The collection is mind-boggling! They have every thing from the tiny Goliath remote control tracked bomb to the mighty, fearsome King Tiger. Words, and photos on the internet, just can't describe it. If you have any interest in WWII history, or an interest in things mechanical, you have to go to this museum. Best of all, there are no ropes or fences to prevent you from groping the beautifully restored, and fully operational, hardware. They just ask that you not climb up on the tanks.

 

The German collection included all of the tank designs, the tank destroyers, self-propelled artillery, half-tracks, FLAK guns, nebelwerfers, MG43s, and on-and-on. Even Mrs D was dumbfounded, and took hundreds of photos. She even asked how could the little US Sherman tanks we had seen at numerous other sites stand up to the massive King Tiger? Numbers I told her, brave men and numbers... When you see the King Tiger you will understand the genesis of the modern tank.

 

After the German building you enter the Allies building, where there are numerous British designs (all waiting for parts...), a few French designs, and the US Sherman and the Pershing. Hiding against a far wall was one of the greatest tanks of WWII, the plucky Soviet T-34. Plus the cavernous hall was filled with many other types of Allied vehicles from WWII, including things from the war in the pacific (but no Japanese hardware).

 

There were some very interesting side rooms that held displays of things such as medical vehicles and the roles of women in WWII. Plus there was a great display of tank engines and transmissions. The last hall contained a collection of tanks that showed the evolution of armor from WWII to the present.

 

Well, I could have spent days at the Musee, but I didn't want Mrs D to overdose on WWII history, so I soon pulled the plug on our visit and we headed for our first chateau visit, Chateau Villandry. Villandry is less than a 30 minute drive from the Musee. The drive goes through some incredibly scenic, quaint villages. We stopped at a boulangerie for a quick lunch, eaten in the car as the skies darkened and an incredible cloudburst let loose. On the remainder of the drive to Villandry we encountered downpours such as we've never seen. But oddly, the countryside just soaked it up and there was no flooding.

 

When we arrive at the chateau, things are not looking promising, as Mrs D only wanted exterior shots of the garden and building. So we put on our rain ponchos and grabbed our lone umbrella a set out for the entrance to the gardens. Well, we lucked out and shortly after getting our tickets, the rain stopped, and soon the sun started poking through the clouds. Mrs D worked her camera overtime to get some great pics before the threatening rain started up again. We walked back to the car in a moderate rain, satisfied with the shots we got. We fired up the nav and set sail (so it seemed...) towards our hotel in Amboise, located beyond Tours.

 

Having read about Tours, and having seen a great many cathedrals in our journeys, we decided to follow the bypass route suggested by the nav system. The path it took us on was, to be kind, not very scenic. Right past a lot of run down industrial areas and highrise "projects" housing. Looked more like Stalinist USSR than France (and ol' Ragnar was in the USSR in '83). But that passed quickly and soon we were following the river to Amboise.

 

We rolled into Amboise and quickly found our hotel along the Loire river. We dropped our bags in our very spacious room (they comped us a nice upgrade, probably due to my good looks...) and headed out to take photos of the big stone bridge, the river, the chateau/fort looming over the town, and the old town itself. All very photogenic.

 

The rain started up again and so we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. This night we were very glad we had made a reservation at the hotel, as it was raining quite hard. The hotel restaurant had good reviews. So we dressed up in our finest duds and headed for the dining room. They sat us at a beautifully set table right at the river view windows. I noticed our name on the table, and the mildly jealous looks from other diners further from the windows... I have no idea why we got the royal treatment the entire time we were at this hotel. Well, we started with a very nice champagne as an aperitif and to accompany our first courses. Then ordered a really excellent bottle of red from a local winery. They went through the full decanting process, but did it very low key. Other places that decanted tended to make a bit of a show out of it, which we didn't care for that much. So we finally got our leisurely french fine dining experience, and quite enjoyed it. Needless to say, we waddled off to bed after dinner :-) Went to sleep with visions of the grand chateaus we would visit the next day dancing in our heads. Well, after the room ceased spinning....