We’re at the end of an amazing week with Caroline, Matthew, Margie, Oliver and Jonah. We did more awesome exploring, this time driving further away from our Astros villa. Caroline’s goal was to see as much of Greece’s history in one week and I think she did well!
Our first visit was to the ancient ruins of Mycenae where we walked through the Lion’s gate and learned a lot about the Mycenaean period. Some great views and a very interesting museum were part of this archeological site.
Our next major ancient site visit was to Olympia which is about 2.5 hours from Astros on the west coast. It was our first day of rain but we still explored the ruins of Olympia. It was amazing but a little hard to find. After a bit of searching around, we noticed many buses traveling along a fairly major road and sure enough, they were headed to Olympia.
Our last visit was to Athens. Man it’s crazy driving in this city!!! Cars, buses, streetcars and worst of all, the motorcycles and scooters who don’t obey traffic rules or lanes. But all the craziness was worth it when we visited the Acropolis site and museum. It was quite spectacular and very impressive.
Tomorrow Caroline heads back to Toronto. It has been a very fast week and we have loved traveling as a family again! Jim and Lisa arrived on Wednesday, so we’ll be 9 people until Monday when Evelyn’s friend Lou joins us for a week or so.
Lion’s Gate marks the entrance into this ancient Mycenaean site.Taking a break at the top of the Mycenaen ruins. Some of th ruins at Olympia.Heading into the Olympic arena..in the rain!The museum of Olympia was very good. These Olympian wannabes pose infront of the temple of Zeus. The Parthenon is undergoing major restoration.The Parthenon, in all it’s scaffolded glory.Taking a selfie infront of the Parthenon.The temple of Athena Nike.An interesting view of the Propylaia.These lovely ladies adorn one side of the Erechtheion.
All of us here in Greece wish all of you at home a very Happy Thanksgiving. Eat lots of turkey for us and we’ll raise a glass for you. We’re having a great time visiting ancient ruins and eating yummy food.
After a rough departure from Paris (Air France had some technical issues with the luggage conveyor belts), we landed in Greece and met up with Christine and Rob. We had a great drive to our Greek house in Astros. The last part was quite spectacular as we curved along the coast. The house is very much with tons of Greek charm. We are slowly discovering where everything is and settling in for our month stay here. Unfortunately, we are back to no wifi. We have to sit in the town square to find some free wifi so blog posts will be limited for the month.
We have had a few adventures already. We’ve been to the theatre of Epidavros (very exciting for me because I have talked about this theatre for more than 15 years in my gr 9 drama class) and the city of Nafplio. We also ventured to Sparta and the ruins of Mystras. One of the best parts of our Greece visit is the swimming. We’ve splashed in the sea 3 times already and hope to do more.
On Saturday, Caroline arrives and Christine and Rob head to Italy. On Sunday, Jim and Lisa and Matthew, Margie, Oliver and Jonah arrive for part 2 of the Greece expedition.
Walking through the square at Nafplio.We had lunch on the beach near Leonidi whichmis close to our house.Evelyn checks out the view as we drive from Astros to Sparta.The ancient site of Mystras which is near Sparti.
Lausanne, Switzerland (by Mark)
After a spectacular drive through the Alps from Italy we arrived in the lakeside city of Lausanne. We spent the afternoon wandering the lakeside parks on a beautiful sunny Sunday. There was a colour run in the area, and we saw many cuckoo clocks and Swiss army knives. Bring a thick wallet to Switzerland.
A really cool apartment building in Lausanne.Chillaxing by the water in Lausanne.A view of Lausanne from the point.One of many mountains driving through Switzerland.
The Black Forest of Germany.(by Mark)
Freiberg is a university town in the Rhine river valley in southwestern Germany. It claims the warmest climate of the country. We saw many things on our quest to have sausages and beer. The town had a farmer’s market that day and a large cobblestoned part closed to cars. Very pretty well maintained architecture. This was the most challenging place so far in terms of language. Very little in German is similar to English/French/Italian, so road signs and menus were a challenge. I ticked off a bucket list item: to drive the ‘no speed limit’ autobahn.
Freiburg from a distance. Yes those are grape vines on the hillside.Freiburg’s old city with the cathedral in the centre.We had lunch on the hillside in Freiburg.We stopped in the small town of Gengenburg before heading to Strasbourg.
Strasbourg, France. (by Mark)
A very short drive brought us to this city in the Alsace region of France. Wines from this region are among our French favourites. They come in tall thin green bottles, and they have their own particular glassware with green stems.
This is my favourite city so far. It has the most impressive cathedral I’ve seen, it has a vibrant mix of German and French architecture and culture, it has closed a huge portion of its streets to cars and is surrounded by rivers and canals. We went for a second wander this evening, and found the streets alive with locals and tourists, families and couples, walking and riding bicycles, eating and drinking at the many indoor and outdoor restaurants, in a very pleasant atmosphere. Decent prices here too.
Strasbourg’s Notre Dame – very impressive.The Kammerzell House is in the same square as the cathedral and is also very impressive.
Google translate will help with the title😄😊😉
The northern part of Italy is quite spectacular – amazing mountainous views, lots of castles and also lots of Roman ruins. We spent today in the town of Aosta. We ended up staying near Aosta because we found an inexpensive apartment. We knew very little (well nothing really) about the town but we certainly weren’t disappointed. The town is very old with many ruins from the Romans. It was very cool to walk around ruins that were almost 2000 years old.
You might be wondering about the title of this blog. Well for the past 2 days, Evelyn has been practicing her Italian by saying lasagna a lot. Today Evelyn had lasagna for lunch and had loads of fun saying lasagna as many times as possible. I think she has mastered the language😉😊
Aosta centre square.This is one of several small shopping streets. A mountain view and to the left is a cathedral that dates back to the 4th century A.D.Aosta’s Roman theatre that dates back to 1st century A.D.
It’s been a very exciting few days after leaving Avignon and heading to the south of France – the Riveria! It’s hard to believe we are in the same small country. It looks so different and feels very tropical in a way. There are significantly more apartment buildings, all facing the sea (go figure) and the boats…oh my! We picked our next boat – when we win the lottery 😊🎉 We stayed in Juan les Pins which is about half way between Cannes and Nice.
One of the many beaches in Juan les Pins which is where we stayed.This is our new sailboat, when we win the big lottery. It’s hard to tell but it’s over 100 ft in length.Cannes beach wannabees😄Cannes in all it’s tropical glory.This street is apparently the place to shop in Cannes. We walked it but didn’t shop much.One of many beaches in Cannes.Mark and I walked to Antibe, the next town east of Juan les Pins. More boats and beaches.
We left Juan les Pins this morning and headed to Arvier, Italy. We traveled through some absolutely amazing scenery, starting with (what we thought) some large mountains with some crazy hairpin turns. But these mountains were just babies next to the ones we saw in northern Italy! It really takes your breath away. Tomorrow we will be exploring a town called Aosta, which is fairly close to Turin (Torino).
The drive leaving France! Check out the road! Crazy stuff.“I drove that” and survived! Excellent grand prix driving Mark. Lots of big cliffs in this region of Italy. it’s near Aosta.The full scale Italy mountains.The view from the door of our apartment in Arvier, Italy.
Avignon is a lovely, old city with lots of history and a very famous children’s song (hence my fun title for this blog). We arrived on Sat. Sept. 17 – the circus was in town (it was set-up behind where we were staying which made the streets super busy) and it was European Heritage weekend (which meant all the museums and historical places were free!). We have explored the Palais des Papes, Fort Saint Andre, the Pont d’Avignon and the walled city centre. We’ve had nice weather – a bit cooler and super windy.
One more night in Avignon and then we head to Juan les Pins on the French Riviera. We’ve decided to drive back to Paris via Italy, Switzerland and Germany. Should be lots of fun.
A small corner of the Palais des Papes in Avignon.Evelyn and I are posed in front of the Palais des Papes.A great view of the Rhone River snd Avginon from the Rocher des Doms.One of many cool little streets inside the old city of Avignon.The Pont d’Avignon spans about half the distance of this part of the Rhone River.We had a great walk through the gardens at Fort Saint Andre.One corner of Fort Saint Andre.One of the many lovely flowers in the garden at the Abbey inside Fort Saint Andre
We’ve been staying in a wifi free zone for the past week so we have a bit of catching to do (including Evelyn’s arrival in Paris). Here we go:
Sept. 10
Canadiana
On our way from Reims to Paris we detoured north to the Vimy ridge memorial and the Somme memorial. We lunched in Arras on market day, which was very lively, and included a Porsche car rally.
The war memorials were exceptional in many ways. The pictures convey some of it. It was nice to talk to the ‘park’ interpreters, who were all Canadian students, mostly from U of Ottawa. The parks are both run by Veteran Affairs Canada.
Arras market day.Check out the cool buildings in Arras.Here’s the car we first rented, but needed more room for Evelyn so we traded it in 😉The restored trenches of Vimy.The terrain at Vimy Ridge has grown over but the scars of battle still remain.The Vimy Ridge memorial – impressive and moving.This is the monument to the Newfoundland soldiers who died in WW1.
Sept. 11 – 17
And then there were three. Evelyn has joined the crew.
After connecting at the Paris airport we were off to our ‘Gite’ or accommodate in Trouhaut, 30km from Dijon. On the way we stopped in Provin, a UNESCO recognised town.
I really liked Trouhaut. We had a small two bedroom house, on a hillside looking over a steep narrow valley. We could see the dairy cows, and hear the church bells and the rooster. We enjoyed a nice hike right out the back door. Great to retreat to after touring all day. There are no businesses in the village, but a bakery and a grocery truck would make deliveries for the seniors. Evelyn made friends with a magpie, which was domesticated by a child after if fell from its nest.
We’re heading into the medieval village in Provins.This is Caesar’s Tower in Provins.Evelyn and Mark pose at the top of Caesar’s tower.Mark does the Trouhaut happy dance singing the “Hills are alive with the sound of music”. Wrong country!Going for a little walk up the main street of Trouhaut.The village of Trouhaut. Lots of crazy, windy, narrow roads make up the driving experience in this area.The lovely backyard at the cottage in Trouhaut.This pesky magpie kept us company in the backyard.
Dijon and Beaune are the two cities that we explored in the northern burgundy wine area. We toured a museum and church in Dijon, went on a wine tasting bus tour with Leona, bought a number of different types of mustard in Baune and sampled a variety of white and red wines. We did our best to retain what we learned on the wine tour, but its a challenge while you are sampling. Most days we would eat lunch in the towns we visited, and then buy food to take home for supper. The French eat well, but some of the cheese is aromatic (stinky!)
After our week in burgundy we drove south through the Beaujolais vine region, stopping to drive to the top of ‘Mont Brouilly’. Vintners pilgrimage here to pray for a good harvest at the chapel. What a scary drive up, but what a spectacular view!
We stopped in Avignon, home of the bridge, where we will be for 4 nights. Its at the junction of the ‘Cotes du Rhône’ wine region and the Provence region.
Checking out the architecture in Dijon.Life mimicing art…Evelyn at the Musee des Beaux Arts in Dijon.One of the many fields of lovely grape vines in Burgundy.Evelyn loves her puppies. This big frenchie is in Beaune.The view from Mont Brouilly of Belleville.
It’s been an amazing week of touring the Champagne region. We’ve seen cathedrals, medieval forts, fortified towns and of course more vineyards than you can imagine! Reims (pronounced Ronse – go figure) has been our home base and we have traveled to Epernay, Troyes and Sedan. In Epernay we walked along the Avenue de Champagne where we saw Moët et Chandon, Mercier, and many others. Troyes is the original capital city for the region and had some amazing tutor-style buildings. We visited the medieval castle in Sedan and we also toured the remains of bunkers 1 & 2 of the Maginot Line near a village called Villy.
We’ve had 2 champagne tours. The first cellar tour was at Taittinger. It was an hour long tour that took us into the underground cellars where millions of bottles of champagne were stored. It was very impressive and in the end, we bought a bottle of their bubbly which we will drink when Evelyn arrives to celebrate the completion of her Masters.
Our second champagne tour was very cool. We went on this bus that drove through the countryside of Epernay, twisting through little villages and vineyards upon vineyards. It’s incredible to see that many vines all together. On the bus we had champagne (of course) and some brioche – very yummy bread. This bus tour is very new (only 2 months in busy) so they really treated us well. We were the only paying customers – another couple was on board but they knew the owners and were on the bus as tour guides I think. This couple owned 4 or 8 hectares of vineyards (we can’t remember) and shared all kinds of interesting facts about grapes, vineyards and the champagne industry with us. We had a great time on this tour!
We have 2 more days in Reims before we had back to Paris to pick up Evelyn. From Paris we head to Burgundy where we will stay about 30km from Dijon. The photos are more or less in order of our days in Reims.
One of many routes to Reims’ city centre.Buddha Mark relaxes in our cute little Reims apartment.The cathedral Notre Dame of Reims.
Champagne bottles in the cellars of Taittinger. This facility is just down the street from us.The church in Epernay.A very cool entrance to a building on the Avenue de Champagne, Epernay.Our new mantra😄Moet & Chandon – very fancy!A champagne glass chandelier inside Moet.Very old tutor style buildings in Troyes.A view of the city centre in Troyes.Oh such straight and well manicured rows.The wonderful chardonnay grape.Just a small sample of the many rows of grape vines.Our bus tour of the Epernay vineyard. Mark is with the man who owns a vineyard.The medieval castle of Sedan.The view from Saint Walfroy. The Maginot line bunkers are on the other side of this valley.Saint Walfroy – a surprise find as we drove to the top of the valley. Very quiet with an amazing view.We saw this giant pig statue on our way back to Reims and just had to stop.
By Mark
I think the architecture of the place has an influence on the character of it. Paris is predominantly composed of six story buildings with narrow streets. Most buildings have storefronts on the first floor, and apartments or offices on the rest. The metro is always close by and parking is for scooters/motorcycles so walking is popular, and its ordinary to see men in suits and women in high heels riding scooters. You will never starve in Paris because you can’t walk 25m without passing a restaurant or food store. The sidewalks are sometimes crowded, but unusual for a large city, people are polite and say excuse me and thank you as we all dodge around. So you have a walking friendly city, a little crowded by our standards because of the narrow streets, and lots of families walking together because living and working is mixed together.
You shouldn’t drink too much wine because you need to stay alert for the bicycle lanes and the posts. The sidewalks are protected from cars trying to park on them by metal posts every few meters. Not too challenging except for the places where driveways cross, and then you may get a surprise if you are looking at the map as you walk.
Coffee. Wow. Yum. Helps with the jet lag, oui !
We had a great day today, wandering about. We were looking for a tour book recommended food market and stumbled across a nice area of streets closed to cars. So nice after dodging traffic. Lunch was sweet crêpes and coffee.
The highlight of the day was Gaston the cat burglar. As we were chilling at the apartment with the window open, a woman poked her head in and apologized because, unseen to us, her cat had entered the apartment through the window. Naughty Gaston was soon reunited with his owner and we all had a good laugh.
Tomorrow we go to the airport to collect our car and then we are off to the Champaign region.
Crimson Kathryn will not be trying these locks.Check it out…this canal goes under the road!This is the alleyway leading to our Paris apartment (the glass windows on the left).
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 