France Holiday, 21st August, 2012

After a good breakfast we packed the car and set off on foot to explore the town. The town was on a hill with the river running through the valley, and as the hotel was at the top of the hill we had to walk down to check out the river in daylight.



You can see the hotel through the "artificial" archway!
 

The baker's

 

It was also market day so we had a good look through the stalls before continuing our search for the river... there were so many narrow streets, but which one to take?

Fruit and Veg man

For Sale!

We finally found the river and took a few photos before going back to the car to move on to our next stop.  At 9.30 am it was well on its way to 25 degrees again.

Taken from the old bridge

The new road bridge taken from the old one!



France holiday, 20th August

Today, after very little sleep, it was time for my first visit to Disneyland! Paul had got free tickets. We packed the car up again and set off for Marne la Vallée, stopping en route for coffee and pancakes. When we arrived we were shocked to find that we had to pay 15€ for the privilege of parking! We were not paying to get in but for those who were paying 74€ per person to get in, it was a little cheeky.

We had a long walk from the car park to the entrance helped by travelators.
I don't think I could have managed that walk with my dodgy foot!! We had to queue of course for tickets and finally swapped our booking form from Sky for tickets.


Paul on travelator

 

 

The train we managed to get on!

The engine lurking behind the trees!

One of the many, many queues 

I have to say I was quite underwhelmed. Too many children (I know) and too many sweaty, smelly adults for my liking. Too many queues and too long to wait to get on any rides. Too hot as well! We did go on a train ride round one of the parks and only got on that by luck rather than judgement. Being in the right place at the right time! I know I sound like a grumpy old woman but I was really disappointed. Even the fast food restaurants weren't fast -:( !

After a few hours we had both had enough and decided to call it a day, walk the miles back to the car and head out of Paris to Beaumont sur Sarthe where we were to stay that night .

We arrived at Beaumont about 1815hrs and checked into the hotel. I was hoping it was going to be cooler but it was still in the late 20's. After changing we walked into the old town for a quick look and then had a cool beer before dinner in the hotel.

The meal was good. Paul had gizzards for the first time (as a starter) which he was not sure about but they were delicious. I had a prawn cocktail but with avocado and egg - delicious. We both had steak as a main course and for dessert I had apple tart and Paul had chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Everything was beautifully presented.

After dinner we walked down to the river then went back to the hotel room for another virtually sleepless night!

France holiday 19th August

After getting up early to make sure we got to the Shuttle on time we arrived to find there was a 90 minute delay due to essential works! It was so hot, already 25 degrees. Me, waiting for the Shuttle.....

We finally left after an hours wait. The journey seemed to pass quite quickly and soon we were on our way to the Isle de France. Due to the lateness of the departure we had to change our lunch plans and ended up with a snack on one of the Aires instead of lunch in Péronne.  After lunch we drove on to Péronne to visit the museum, Histoire de la Grande Guerre. It was really interesting and had numerous displays of equipment and clothing from the Germans, the French and the English from the Great War. 

 

 

 

We really only paid a fleeting visit as the temperature was in the mid 30's and rising. It was just too hot!  After a nice cup of Lipton's tea we went back to the car and continued our journey. By this time the temperature had risen to 39 degrees and stayed like that until we got to the hotel in Chelles. We unloaded the car, went for a beer and then had dinner at le Bistrot du Boucher sitting outside which seemed to be the coolest option.  The staff and our fellow guests were really friendly and we were able to share a joke or two with them.

After dinner it was back to the heat of the hotel room. It was still incredibly hot and we really struggled to sleep. There was no air at all and so although we were so tired it was impossible to sleep. Paul came up with the idea of covering ourselves with damp towels which seemed to do the trick!!!

 

Our mini cruise, day 3

We woke on our third and last morning to the sun shining brightly into our cabin as we came down the Suffolk/Essex coast.  You could always get your location from the satellite channel on the TV in the room.  We were quite sad at the thought of leaving the ship especially as the weather had suddenly changed for the better.  We left the cabin to go to breakfast and once again there was so much choice... I had pancakes and maple syrup!

After breakfast we went up on to the Verandah deck and watched the ship come into Dover.  It was such a glorious day.

Paul and the White Cliffs of Dover

After we docked in Dover, we had to wait an hour or so before we could disembark.  We were taken to Dover Priory station where got the train back to Sandling! 

Even though we had only been away for a couple of days it felt as if we had been away for much longer.  It was a fantastic break away and I cannot wait for the next one!