Paris Thursday 28 May

This was the first day we had a chance to have a sleep in. Henri de Willy came to the camp site to say hello and then some of the guys went off to the French Military Vehicle workshop somewhere near Versailles. It was lovely to see Henri again after 2 years, the last time he was at Corowa and he made a watercolour sketch of the Ute we are currently driving. Hans and Rene were going to try their luck for tickets to the tennis and Graham and Mick went to the workshop.

Well what a day - we walked, rode on trains and buses all around in the centre of Paris, looked at history and very old buildings. Fiona’s explanation will follow. John enjoyed it but is keen to sit in the ute and take a load off his feet tomorrow as we have 280 km to drive to Mont St Michel in Normandy.

OK – we finally left camp around noon and by bus and train went to Montmartre on the way to Sacre Coeur. Came out of the Metro and got a little confused and started down some streets that were very sleazy and on either side of us were hawkers, standing side by side all the way. Finally went the right way and up to the church, declined to walk up and took the funicular tramway. It was a shame that the day was so overcast and misty rain, otherwise the photos would have been fantastic.



From there we went back to the Ile de la Cite and went to the Conciergerie where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned prior to her beheading. Paddy featured again in the Hall where the main banqueting took place.

Then to Notre Dame de Paris, because Paddy needed redeeming from his time in prison. It is an awesome sight but the queue to climb up to the ramparts was too long, so we only went inside. No sightings of Quasimodo or the gargoyles this time around unfortunately.




We went over in front of the Hotel de Ville and there were Hans and Rene. They had missed out on tickets to the tennis so made their way into town and were watching on the big screen in town.



And there was some very creative parking happening here



Further on was the Louvre precincts, the Jardin de Tuilleries, Pont Alexandre III and finally back to the Champs Elysees and headed back to camp. A very full 7 hours but it was wonderful to see Paris again.

Wednesday 27 Verdun to Paris 187 km

Due to the change in the weather yesterday it was much cooler today, this made it easier on the vehicles for our 190 miles (6.5 hours including stops) drive to Paris and our camp site. It took longer than first thought because of the French Open tennis being held at Roland Garros near the camp site with lots of extra traffic and road blocks. Generally it was a good drive doing 45 mph on freeway and secondary roads, until Paris.

But to the farming side of things, from the time we left Verdun until the outskirts of Paris all we saw was what can only be said to be more fertile land with larger scale cropping every where, as far as the eye can see. Not one animal or fence to be seen, just thousand upon thousands of acres of the best crops you can imagine, from broad beans, potatoes, cereals crops of all types. The landscape is fairly flat with the only land not farmed are tree belts, roads etc.

In the evening we took a bus into the centre of Paris and walked down Avenue Charles de Gaulle towards the Arc de Triomphe. When we got there, we went into the tunnel to go underneath for photos, only to be turned away by the Police and Gendarmes because it was closed for a ceremony. Back outside and got onto the footpath at the top of the Champs Elysees. There was the cause of the closure. A group of veterans and people from Dunkirk were preparing a parade to honour the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc and Dunkirk’s participation in WWII. The Army and Band and dignitaries were all taking part. The Police closed off part of the roadway around the Arc and away they went. Then it was on to the Trocadero and a look at the Eiffel Tower, then dinner in St Germaine des Pres. As the sun does not set until about 2130 hours it left us plenty time for a walk around town before heading back to camp.

Tuesday 26 May Verdun

Today was spent driving around, doing 50 miles looking at WW1 battle fields @ memorials. First up we looked inside the Citadelle Souterraine. Then we looked at a totally destroyed village of Fleury where nothing remains except the bomb craters. A large area around Verdun was left as it remained after the battles were over, as a reminder of the war. Later we looked at the French Memorial that has thousands of names of unknown solders on its wall and their remains buried underneath that can be seen through glass walls. In the cemetery are the graves of 15,000 soldiers. This battle between the Germans and French had the largest loss of live then any other battle in history, around 400,000 on both sides.





At 1730 it started to rain so we headed to camp via some shopping. A good evening meal was had at our camp before we retired for the evening.

Where are our followers and lookers?

Hi everyone

I thought we may have got a few comments by now. Hope you are all enjoying our trip.

Fiona

Verdun, France Monday 25 May

I've now loaded a missing picture looking at the descent from the Simplon Pass.



Today we drove through more farming country. Now that we are well into France it has changed to broad acre cropping country, more like at home. The paddocks are about 40 to 100 acres of wheat, triticaly & canolla mainly. Much more hay is made also, mainly of pasture & crops with larger equipment, as we are used to.

As like yesterday the temperature was in the 30 plus degrees. The ute is still running like a dream, thanks again to the effort put in by Steve & Max.

This area saw the biggest ever military battle in history and during WW1 between the French and the Germans and there are many sites to see tomorrow.

I have finally been able to power up the computer from last night’s shut down and it is 2245 hrs French time. The only area to get Internet access is adjacent to the reception area of this camp ground and they have just turned out all the lights, so I am working with torch light and the light from the screen. We are again 200m from any WC and shower. As John mentioned earlier, the temp on arrival was very high and there was no breeze to speak of. The pool was very inviting just before cooking dinner.

Paddy and Bluey had a quiet day today. I forgot to get them out when we visited the Basilica dedicated to St Joan of Arc just past Neufchateau. We missed going into the village to see her birth home unfortunately, but the Basilica was awesome.





Of course, there will be more to follow tomorrow.

Mulhouse, France, 24 May 2009

What an incredible couple days. Yesterday we were all ready up to leave camp at Lake Maggiore at 7300 and the electronic barriers at 0730, waiting to be released. They locked the outer gates at 2200 and if you were outside, you couldn’t get your vehicle back in.

Champing at the bit to get to Switzerland and the long awaited Simplon Pass journey. Finally got away and made our way to the commencement of the ‘climb’. As we got over the border from Italy to Switzerland, the scenery changed immediately. Gorgeous mountains covered with snow, glaciers just beside the road and snow drifts, rustic farm houses and meadow upon meadow of lush grass. John was drooling at the sight of the methods of mowing and immediate silage collection of the fresh grass being taken to the cow barns. The cows had the traditional bells hanging around their necks and it got to the point that my eyes were hurting from the beautiful scenery. Each bend revealed a new vista and photo opportunity. Very quickly, we were at 2005m above sea level and at the summit of the Simplon Pass with little effort, not as expected. Napoleon’s Eagle carved out of stone was there because this was vital to his campaign to capture Italy we believe.

Paddy has now successfully completed his SES Alpine Rescue course and even assisted Bluey along the way.





On to Oberwald and took the car train to Realp under the Furka Pass. The peak of the mountain was 2200m above sea level but we were at 1500m below that. The trip took 20 minutes and we travelled at 80-90km/hr, the fastest the jeeps and our ute have travelled ever. I was filming our departure and when we came off the train, we thought it was our friend Swiss Chris with his Akubra with camera to his face. The camera was lowered and there was Ben Gruber, Neil and Brenda’s son from Yass and a relative of ours. He is conducting research at Stuttgart University. A completely unexpected and pleasant surprise for us to see somebody from our own, Chris was out of sight but soon appeared.

Travelled onward to Devil’s Bridge, the site of a battle between the Russians and French in 1799. Just so much to see to talk about now.

That night we got the very rustic camp above Lake Seeli at the southern end of Lake Luzern. We couldn’t stay in the intended camp because they wanted us to take the vehicles down, unload and leave them unattended above on the road. As nearly all of us sleep in the vehicles, it was not at all convenient. Camp was relocated.

Dinner and tour of Luzern followed courtesy of Chris and Ben. It was a most beautiful Old City.

Today we went to Safenwil where Chris’ parents Marlena and Peter and brother Pascal live, again through some of the very fertile farming land and on hilly country. See PHOTO. A delightful BBQ, the best meal we have had during the whole trip. It was a very great pleasure to meet them as they made us very welcome and feel at home. Many hours later, we had to reluctantly farewell them and made our way to Mulhouse in France.



It took us an hour and a half of frustration to find the camp site for the night once we arrived in town to a very welcome beer and shower.

Tomorrow we head to Verdun for a couple of nights and then gay Paree!!!!!

Bon soir mon amis.
John says good bye for now

Lake Maggiore, 22 May 2009

A relatively short drive of 110 miles yesterday of flat easy freeway going, the most trucks we’ve seen so far on the roads from Turin to Lake Maggiore. The scenery was quite different again as we drove through rice fields under flooded irrigation and also their haymaking season is well underway. We noted that the paddocks are still quite small, on paddock produced only 3 round bales while others had up to around 25 of bales and silage.

Dinner was ‘at home’ last night.


We went for a drive this morning. Parts of Europe had a public holiday yesterday and are making a 4 day weekend of it. The place is humming with people and vehicles from Germany and other countries. From our humble abode last night, we could have been in much better, not that far up the road as you can see. The temperature is in the low 30s again today for the 4th day in a row.




Tomorrow we hit the Simplon Pass and the car train through the Furka Pass, a 20k tunnel. We hear there has been quite a dump of snow there, making driving impossible, hence the train.

Bienvenuto Ciao Ciao for now