| OLD PORT |
EUROPE JOURNAL
1999
PARIS
Stopped in New York for an hour to stretch, got a beer at a
airport pub and lost a screw from my brand new glasses. Crawling around on my
knees looking for it.
Arrived at Paris Orly Sud, (before De Gaul was finished). catch the usual AirFrance bus to
Invalides, where we get a taxi to Hotel L’Hermitage in Montmarte. Our friends, Bill
& Toodie are across the Siene on the Riv Droite, they had their limo drive
over to our hotel but the driver got lost and it took them 1.1/2 hours to get
here. We had adjoining rooms off the patio so we sat out the for a nice cool
drink before a stroll around Montmarte.
Bill went down to do some laundry. We met them later and had
a great dinner at the Italian place down the street. “Is that a bottle of Cotes
de Rhone in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?” We all got ridiculous
and took turns going downstairs to see the crazy self cleaning toilet seat In
he John.
Breakfasted on our terrace with Dodsons then to Metro to Le
Gare, where Bill & I proved to be interchangeable as far as our passports
anyway. Lyon for tickets then off to Harry’s Bar for Martinis. Bill & I
finally received our honorary “Bar Fly” pins while the girls got a couple of
free postcards. That really ticked them off. Had lunch at Hippo then Bill &
I took to the sewers tour while girls
made a bee line for Gallerie Lafayette & window shopping. We met back at
Harrys smelling a little more pungent than before.
MARSIELLE
PHOTO
PARIS
Stopped in New York for an hour to stretch, got a beer at a
airport pub and lost a screw from my brand new glasses. Crawling around on my
knees looking for it.
Arrived at Paris Orly Sud, catch the usual AirFrance bus to Invalides, where we get a taxi to Hotel L’Hermitage in Montmarte. Our friends, Bill & Toodie are across the Siene on the Riv Droite, they had their limo drive over to our hotel but the driver got lost and it took them 1.1/2 hours to get here. We had adjoining rooms off the patio so we sat out the for a nice cool drink before a stroll around Montmarte.
Bill went down to do some laundry. We met them later and had a great dinner at the Italian place down the street. “Is that a bottle of Cotes de Rhone in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?” We all got ridiculous and took turns going downstairs to see the crazy self cleaning toilet seat In he John.
Breakfasted on our terrace with Dodsons then to Metro to Le
Gare, where Bill & I proved to be interchangeable as far as our passports
anyway. Lyon for tickets then off to Harry’s Bar for Martinis. Bill & I
finally received our honorary “Bar Fly” pins while the girls got a couple of
free postcards. That really ticked them off. Had lunch at Hippo then Bill &
I took to the sewers tour while girls
made a bee line for Gallerie Lafayette & window shopping. We met back at
Harrys smelling a little more pungent than before.
MARSIELLE
5/20
CASSIS
5/21
AG MORT
5/22 Via Arles & Nimes
Searched for Foster’s glass museum. Couldn’t find it.
La Carmarque with flamingos (Far, far away!) Gypsey
convention on the beach.
The ferry
To FONTAINE DE
VAUCLUSE
Via Les Beaux & St. Remy.
Lunch in Cavallion
Hike up to the source of the river Sourge., exitin from the
mountain..
Drive up to Chateauneuf de Pape
Lunch
Walked on Pont du Garde
Through Avingnon, Papal Palace, or wht’s let of it.
drove to AIX EN
PROVENCE
5/27/99 - Dinner at La Deaux Carcons since 1672.
Great bottle of wine (‘95 La Coste). Drink tables are round but when they
switch to dinner mode they fit a square table top over it, add tablecloth-
viola! Dinner. We both ordered poulet,
but cooked different. It’s always a crap shoot when you’re ordering when you
don’t have a clue what it all means
.
For all you tree huggers, check out the giant
old sycamore trees lining this ancient street. They have paving all around them
except for about a six square foot of area and that is either cobbled or paved
with a very porous type of asphalt that one can walk on. Tree drip line? About 30 feet out. As an
example, in the USA that would wipe out all the wonderful sidewalk restaurant,
even if they were allowed on public property.
These restaurant have been here under the trees for 30 years.
Next time, buy a phone card as some telephones
don’t even have a coin slot. This long before i-phone.
Our car rental was really cheap, about $160 a
week for both France & Italy. Be sure to get A/C next time. Insurance
provided by credit card & AAA.
So many roundabouts one gets dizzy sometimes.
Joy is a real asset when it comes to navigating, at least in Europe. She has
her little strip we made that shows kilometers & miles so we know exactly
what roundabout to change direction on. We very seldom got lost & usually
got back on track finally. Like going into Aix in Provence which is a big city
(150k), We follow “Centre Ville” signs. If we get lost we keep going around the
Roundabout until we pick out a sign that says “Centre Ville”, before too long
Joy noticed our hotel on the left! We pulled into a driveway but a car was
already parked there at a gate so I backed out onto the busy street and tried
to park in a too small space. Finally Joy got out and stopped cars and buses so
I could back out again in order to go around the roundabout again to renew the
attack on the gate. That time we made it & got in to park our car. We
thought it was a small hotel but here was a 10 story building. Well, the first
two floors was the hotel, the rest were apartments.
05-28-99
TGV Marseille to NICE
The
conductor, when checking our tickets checked our wine bottle to ascertain
whether we were drinking a quality wine. Well, he seemed satisfied. “Bon vin”.
From Auges Morte to St. Marie Sant we took a
back road which had a free ferry across a small river. Well, we arrived at the
ferry at 12:01 and the ferryman was at lunch till 1:30. So we all waited around
while about 20 cars cued up. Spent time conversing with a Canadian bicyclist
who had two wooden legs. He and his two kids were cycling from there to
Avignon, about 30 miles! His kids were put in a French school that helps
foreigners learn French while still studying.
MONACO
(Privat yaghts) The BIG boat left today. “Lady
Cristina”. Bigger one came in last night “Sea Goddess II”.
Baths: All bath- tubs in France are 17" -
18" deep, enough to cover your body. It isn’t easy to bath with the hand
held shower head without a curtain. I can usually do it without getting water
all over the floor but not always.
Lord Byron has always been on the scene, in
Rome, etc.
Monte Carlo @ Café de Paris; There’s always
parking spaces right in front of Casino for the high rollers. I couldn’t figure
out the pecking order but they were all Mercedes, Porches, Ferraris & a
stray Lambourgini or two. The owners love to come out, get in their machines
and really cut out.
A tense
moment: A large group of Harley bikers (20 or so?) Pulled up right in front of
casino, made everyone very nervous, but they only wanted to take some pictures
and roared off. Whew!
The
music scene here is fairly current U.S. music, jazzy/blues. France is usually
about 20 years old, old records? Bought a $10 beer (Amstel at least) $13 ice
cream at the sideshow, I mean sidewalk Café de Paris.
FIRENZE (Floerence)
Dinner at “Cite de Firenze” American Bar and one
of our favorite places. Great avocado “salad”; a large avocado half with a
little bowl of lemon/oil sauce! Always good food and service. 1500 years ago
the room was a stable for chariots & horses. Has a two story stone vault
with steel tension rods. Was once ALSO an art gallery. The wine was a ‘96 Pomino
Rosso, Castello di Pomino, Frescobaldi (Marchesede).
General note: Bologna; tried to get 300,000 lire
at ATM but something was amiss, make sure they don’t charge me. (This long
before the Euro)
Gen. Note: Autostrada from S. Marconi to Lucca =
13,000 lire.
Gen. Note: Public toilet in Sienna = 1,000 L ,
clean, TP, soap, Male attendant
LUCCA
Pietro Santos:
Back
highway was lined with North African ladies who sit on their chair or stand
there. A few have small motor home while others have nothing. Do they they
do it in the bushes?
PUGNAGNO
Stayed in an old mansion called he “Corliani”l. Any
relation?
Heard of Sergio’s Restaurant (Next door to our
small hotel in an old mansion) was good and we found it to be maybe the best
on our trip.
Sergio’s Restaurant;
Located in an old winery building withhold painted medals on all the ceilings such as: Winner, 1898 Brussels fair, and so on.
The serving of wine here is a high art, thusly;:
Server brings out the bottle on a cart with a
candle and several wine glasses. She (or he) opens the bottle, pours into a
ships decanter in front of the candle, leaving the dregs. (I got that when she
wasn’t looking). She pours a bit of wine from the decanter into a glass, swirls
furiously on the deck of the cart, then pours it into another glass, swirling
again. Pours into a small wine glass, then tastes it! Only after that does she
pour a small bit of wine into my glass so that I may taste it.
Joy liked the asparigus so much she ordered
it for aperitif, dinner plus dsesesert, much to the amazement of the kitchen
staff, who had to peek out of the kitchen to see this crazy
Americano.
‘A’
EUROPE JOURNAL
1999
PARIS
Stopped in New York for an hour to stretch, got a beer at a
airport pub and lost a screw from my brand new glasses. Crawling around on my
knees looking for it.
Arrived at Paris Orly Sud, catch the usual AirFrance bus to
Invalides, where we get a taxi to Hotel L’Hermitage in Montmarte. Our friends, Bill
& Toodie are across the Siene on the Riv Droite, they had their limo drive
over to our hotel but the driver got lost and it took them 1.1/2 hours to get
here. We had adjoining rooms off the patio so we sat out the for a nice cool
drink before a stroll around Montmarte.
Bill went down to do some laundry. We met them later and had
a great dinner at the Italian place down the street. “Is that a bottle of Cotes
de Rhone in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?” We all got ridiculous
and took turns going downstairs to see the crazy self cleaning toilet seat In
he John.
Breakfasted on our terrace with Dodsons then to Metro to Le
Gare, where Bill & I proved to be interchangeable as far as our passports
anyway. Lyon for tickets then off to Harry’s Bar for Martinis. Bill & I
finally received our honorary “Bar Fly” pins while the girls got a couple of
free postcards. That really ticked them off. Had lunch at Hippo then Bill &
I took to the sewers tour while girls
made a bee line for Gallerie Lafayette & window shopping. We met back at
Harrys smelling a little more pungent than before.
MARSIELLE
5/20
CASSIS
5/21
AG MORT
5/22 Via Arles & Nimes
Searched for Foster’s glass museum. Couldn’t find it.
La Carmarque with flamingos (Far, far away!) Gypsey
convention on the beach.
The ferry
To FONTAINE DE
VAUCLUSE
Via Les Beaux & St. Remy.
Lunch in Cavallion
Hike up to the source of the river Sourge., exitin from the
mountain..
Drive up to Chateauneuf de Pape
Lunch
Walked on Pont du Garde
Through Avingnon, Papal Palace, or wht’s let of it.
drove to AIX EN
PROVENCE
5/27/99 - Dinner at La Deaux Carcons since 1672.
Great bottle of wine (‘95 La Coste). Drink tables are round but when they
switch to dinner mode they fit a square table top over it, add tablecloth-
viola! Dinner. We both ordered poulet,
but cooked different. It’s always a crap shoot when you’re ordering when you
don’t have a clue what it all means
.
For all you tree huggers, check out the giant
old sycamore trees lining this ancient street. They have paving all around them
except for about a six square foot of area and that is either cobbled or paved
with a very porous type of asphalt that one can walk on. Tree drip line? About 30 feet out. As an
example, in the USA that would wipe out all the wonderful sidewalk restaurant,
even if they were allowed on public property.
These restaurant have been here under the trees for 30 years.
Next time, buy a phone card as some telephones
don’t even have a coin slot. This long before i-phone.
Our car rental was really cheap, about $160 a
week for both France & Italy. Be sure to get A/C next time. Insurance
provided by credit card & AAA.
So many roundabouts one gets dizzy sometimes.
Joy is a real asset when it comes to navigating, at least in Europe. She has
her little strip we made that shows kilometers & miles so we know exactly
what roundabout to change direction on. We very seldom got lost & usually
got back on track finally. Like going into Aix in Provence which is a big city
(150k), We follow “Centre Ville” signs. If we get lost we keep going around the
Roundabout until we pick out a sign that says “Centre Ville”, before too long
Joy noticed our hotel on the left! We pulled into a driveway but a car was
already parked there at a gate so I backed out onto the busy street and tried
to park in a too small space. Finally Joy got out and stopped cars and buses so
I could back out again in order to go around the roundabout again to renew the
attack on the gate. That time we made it & got in to park our car. We
thought it was a small hotel but here was a 10 story building. Well, the first
two floors was the hotel, the rest were apartments.
05-28-99
TGV Marseille to NICE
The
conductor, when checking our tickets checked our wine bottle to ascertain
whether we were drinking a quality wine. Well, he seemed satisfied. “Bon vin”.
From Auges Morte to St. Marie Sant we took a
back road which had a free ferry across a small river. Well, we arrived at the
ferry at 12:01 and the ferryman was at lunch till 1:30. So we all waited around
while about 20 cars cued up. Spent time conversing with a Canadian bicyclist
who had two wooden legs. He and his two kids were cycling from there to
Avignon, about 30 miles! His kids were put in a French school that helps
foreigners learn French while still studying.
MONACO
(Privat yaghts) The BIG boat left today. “Lady
Cristina”. Bigger one came in last night “Sea Goddess II”.
Baths: All bath- tubs in France are 17" -
18" deep, enough to cover your body. It isn’t easy to bath with the hand
held shower head without a curtain. I can usually do it without getting water
all over the floor but not always.
Lord Byron has always been on the scene, in
Rome, etc.
Monte Carlo @ Café de Paris; There’s always
parking spaces right in front of Casino for the high rollers. I couldn’t figure
out the pecking order but they were all Mercedes, Porches, Ferraris & a
stray Lambourgini or two. The owners love to come out, get in their machines
and really cut out.
A tense
moment: A large group of Harley bikers (20 or so?) Pulled up right in front of
casino, made everyone very nervous, but they only wanted to take some pictures
and roared off. Whew!
The
music scene here is fairly current U.S. music, jazzy/blues. France is usually
about 20 years old, old records? Bought a $10 beer (Amstel at least) $13 ice
cream at the sideshow, I mean sidewalk Café de Paris.
FIRENZE (Floerence)
Dinner at “Cite de Firenze” American Bar and one
of our favorite places. Great avocado “salad”; a large avocado half with a
little bowl of lemon/oil sauce! Always good food and service. 1500 years ago
the room was a stable for chariots & horses. Has a two story stone vault
with steel tension rods. Was once ALSO an art gallery. The wine was a ‘96 Pomino
Rosso, Castello di Pomino, Frescobaldi (Marchesede).
General note: Bologna; tried to get 300,000 lire
at ATM but something was amiss, make sure they don’t charge me. (This long
before the Euro)
Gen. Note: Autostrada from S. Marconi to Lucca =
13,000 lire.
Gen. Note: Public toilet in Sienna = 1,000 L ,
clean, TP, soap, Male attendant
LUCCA
Pietro Santos:
Back
highway was lined with North African ladies who sit on their chair or stand
there. A few have small motor home while others have nothing. Do they they
do it in the bushes?
PUGNAGNO
Stayed in an old mansion called he “Corliani”l. Any
relation?
Heard of Sergio’s Restaurant (Next door to our
small hotel in an old mansion) was good and we found it to be maybe the best
on our trip.
Sergio’s Restaurant;
Located in an old winery building withhold painted medals on all the ceilings such as: Winner, 1898 Brussels fair, and so on.
The serving of wine here is a high art, thusly;:
Server brings out the bottle on a cart with a
candle and several wine glasses. She (or he) opens the bottle, pours into a
ships decanter in front of the candle, leaving the dregs. (I got that when she
wasn’t looking). She pours a bit of wine from the decanter into a glass, swirls
furiously on the deck of the cart, then pours it into another glass, swirling
again. Pours into a small wine glass, then tastes it! Only after that does she
pour a small bit of wine into my glass so that I may taste it.
Joy liked the asparigus so much she ordered
it for aperitif, dinner plus dsesesert, much to the amazement of the kitchen
staff, who had to peek out of the kitchen to see this crazy
Americano.
CASSIS
PHOO
AG MORT
5/22 Via Arles & Nimes
Searched for Foster’s glass museum. Couldn’t find it.
La Carmarque with flamingos (Far, far away!) Gypsey
convention on the beach.
The ferry
To FONTAINE DE
VAUCLUSE
Via Les Beaux & St. Remy.
Lunch in Cavallion
Hike up to the source of the river Sourge., exiting from the
mountain..
Drive up to Chateauneuf de Pape
Lunch
Walked on Pont du Garde
Through Avingnon, Papal Palace, or what’s let of it.
drove to AIX EN
PROVENCE
5/27/99 - Dinner at La Deaux Carcons since 1672.
Great bottle of wine (‘95 La Coste). Drink tables are round but when they
switch to dinner mode they fit a square table top over it, add tablecloth-
viola! Dinner. We both ordered poulet,
but cooked different. It’s always a crap shoot when you’re ordering when you
don’t have a clue what it all means
.
For all you tree huggers, check out the giant
old sycamore trees lining this ancient street. They have paving all around them
except for about a six square foot of area and that is either cobbled or paved
with a very porous type of asphalt that one can walk on. Tree drip line? About 30 feet out. As an
example, in the USA that would wipe out all the wonderful sidewalk restaurant,
even if they were allowed on public property.
These restaurant have been here under the trees for 30 years.
Next time, buy a phone card as some telephones
don’t even have a coin slot. This long before i-phone.
Our car rental was really cheap, about $160 a
week for both France & Italy. Be sure to get A/C next time. Insurance
provided by credit card & AAA.
So many roundabouts one gets dizzy sometimes.
Joy is a real asset when it comes to navigating, at least in Europe. She has
her little strip we made that shows kilometers & miles so we know exactly
what roundabout to change direction on. We very seldom got lost & usually
got back on track finally. Like going into Aix in Provence which is a big city
(150k), We follow “Centre Ville” signs. If we get lost we keep going around the
Roundabout until we pick out a sign that says “Centre Ville”, before too long
Joy noticed our hotel on the left! We pulled into a driveway but a car was
already parked there at a gate so I backed out onto the busy street and tried
to park in a too small space. Finally Joy got out and stopped cars and buses so
I could back out again in order to go around the roundabout again to renew the
attack on the gate. That time we made it & got in to park our car. We
thought it was a small hotel but here was a 10 story building. Well, the first
two floors was the hotel, the rest were apartments.
05-28-99
TGV Marseille to NICE
The
conductor, when checking our tickets checked our wine bottle to ascertain
whether we were drinking a quality wine. Well, he seemed satisfied. “Bon vin”.
From Auges Morte to St. Marie Sant we took a
back road which had a free ferry across a small river. Well, we arrived at the
ferry at 12:01 and the ferryman was at lunch till 1:30. So we all waited around
while about 20 cars cued up. Spent time conversing with a Canadian bicyclist
who had two wooden legs. He and his two kids were cycling from there to
Avignon, about 30 miles! His kids were put in a French school that helps
foreigners learn French while still studying.
MONACO
(Privat yaghts) The BIG boat left today. “Lady
Cristina”. Bigger one came in last night “Sea Goddess II”.
Lord Byron has always been on the scene, in
Rome, etc.
Next door was an outdoor cafe Monte Carlo @ Café de Paris; There’s always
parking spaces right in front of Casino for the high rollers. I couldn’t figure
out the pecking order but they were all Mercedes, Porches, Ferraris & a
stray Lambourgini or two. The owners love to come out, get in their machines
and really cut out.
A tense
moment: A large group of Harley bikers (20 or so?) Pulled up right in front of
casino, made everyone very nervous, but they only wanted to take some pictures
and roared off. Whew!
The
music scene here is fairly current U.S. music, jazzy/blues. France is usually
about 20 years old, old records? Bought a $10 beer (Amstel at least) $13 ice
cream at the sideshow, I mean sidewalk Café de Paris.
FIRENZE (Floerence)
Dinner at “Cite de Firenze” American Bar and one
of our favorite places. Great avocado “salad”; a large avocado half with a
little bowl of lemon/oil sauce! Always good food and service. 1500 years ago
the room was a stable for chariots & horses. Has a two story stone vault
with steel tension rods. Was once ALSO an art gallery. The wine was a ‘96 Pomino
Rosso, Castello di Pomino, Frescobaldi (Marchesede).
Gen. Note: Autostrada Toll from S. Marconi to Lucca =
13,000 lire.
Gen. Note: Public toilet in Sienna = 1,000 Lira ,
clean, TP, soap, Male attendant
LUCCA
Pietro Santos:
Back
highway was lined with North African ladies who sit on their chair or stand
there. A few have small motor home while others have nothing. Do they they
do it in the bushes?
PUGNAGNO
Stayed in an old mansion called he “Corliani”l. Any
relation?
Heard of Sergio’s Restaurant (Next door to our
small hotel in an old mansion) was good and we found it to be maybe the best
on our trip.
Sergio’s Restaurant;
Located in an old winery building withhold painted medals on all the ceilings such as: Winner, 1898 Brussels fair, and so on.
The serving of wine here is a high art, thusly;:
Server brings out the bottle on a cart with a
candle and several wine glasses. She (or he) opens the bottle, pours into a
ships decanter in front of the candle, leaving the dregs. (I got that when she
wasn’t looking). She pours a bit of wine from the decanter into a glass, swirls
furiously on the deck of the cart, then pours it into another glass, swirling
again. Pours into a small wine glass, then tastes it! Only after that does she
pour a small bit of wine into my glass so that I may taste it.
Joy liked the asparigus so much she ordered it for aperitif, dinner plus dsesesert, much to the amazement of the kitchen staff, who had to peek out of the kitchen to see this crazy Americano.
