I enjoy the preparation and research for a trip. Tapping the knowledge of my world traveler friend Greg was extremely helpful--he even loaned me several of his travel books. Of course, I had to get the Rick Steves 2009 London, Paris, and Great Britain travel guides used online from www.half.com. It's a big kick to have a general idea of what you're going to do and how to get around. You can always ask for help but it's good not to be clueless. The Trip Advisor website has a ton of info and reviews from travelers. I checked out the hotel in Paris on that site. I found my Edinburgh hotel on www.booking.com.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Wrapping Up The Trip...
I enjoy the preparation and research for a trip. Tapping the knowledge of my world traveler friend Greg was extremely helpful--he even loaned me several of his travel books. Of course, I had to get the Rick Steves 2009 London, Paris, and Great Britain travel guides used online from www.half.com. It's a big kick to have a general idea of what you're going to do and how to get around. You can always ask for help but it's good not to be clueless. The Trip Advisor website has a ton of info and reviews from travelers. I checked out the hotel in Paris on that site. I found my Edinburgh hotel on www.booking.com.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Un Parisien d'un jour!
My feet were getting pretty sore from all the walking--I logged 14 miles on Thursday! But I'd rescheduled my Paris Greeter walk with Antoine (could be a movie title--My Walk With Antoine) so I made Friday morning low-key, just a visit to the Musee de L'Orangerie. A short metro ride brought me to the Jardin les Tuileries, another one of the huge gardens where joggers jog, people sit and soak up the springtime sun, lovers do what lovers in Paris do. I found the museum easily and had prepped myself on what to expect with the help of Rick Steves' guidebook.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Full Day in Paris #1
At the end of the day my pedometer read 30,463 and my feet were feeling the effects. This won't be a detailed post; more later. Here's a list of what I did yesterday:
- Breakfast at Starbucks (coffee and pancakes with chocolate syrup)
- Cruise on the River Seine
- Power lunch of sandwich and salad eaten on the fly and on street bench
- Rodin Museum & Gardens
- Pantheon (Foucault Pendulum)
- San Francisco Book Store (book in the Inspector Rebus series by Iain Rankin (set in Scotland and recommended by friend Karen Miller)
- Montparnasse 360-degree Tour (56 stories high)
- Dinner at Polidor restaurant nearby to hotel--a Rick Steves recommendation
- Eiffel Tower at sunset
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
In Paris At Last
Eight hours of train travel yesterday starting at 9 AM in Edinburgh got me to Paris about 6:30 PM. Thanks to Google maps I found the way from the close-by Odeon subway station to the Grand Hotel de Balcons with no problems. It's name is misleading; it's not really grand. It's in a great location on the Left Bank so I should have no problems walking to many places I want to see.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Scottish Highlands & Loch Ness Monster!
The volcanic ash cloud delay and my cancelled Paris flight on Monday allowed me to spend a couple more days in Edinburgh. I had heard good things about the Highlands/Loch Ness Grayline bus tour so I booked it for Wednesday. Pickup was at 8:00 AM in front of a Travelodge less than a block from the flat where I’ve been staying.
I expected pretty countryside but the views exceeded my expectations. And snow? And a cruise on Loch Ness where we sighted Nessie, the legendary monster? And that’s no bull!
Okay, a Highland bull named Hamish, at our first coffee stop. We had a comfortable coach and a small group of 16—again thanks to the cloud. Bill, our guide and driver, said he normally takes 40 people on every tour.
After lunch in Fort William and a glimpse of Scotland’s highest peak (4500+ feet) we journeyed on to Loch Ness. Our boat was no ordinary tourist vessel. It was equipped with high tech sonar and other imaging equipment. Every day the crew finds something of interest (that may be a Nessie image) they capture it and email it to MIT. We were very surprised to see the monster surface near the boat as we were cruising along. Seeing is believing. Here’s the video I shot:
When we slowed the boat up popped a baby Nessie!
Just a few seconds after I snapped this picture both creatures slipped beneath the surface, perhaps to lurk in the murky depths--never to be seen again for years! We couldn’t believe our luck and the rest of the tour was anticlimactic. It was still beautiful most of the way until we dropped out of the Highlands and got back to Edinburgh at 7:45 PM.
I spent what was left of the day getting sorted out for my long day of train travel into Paris with an ETA of 6:15 PM.
Viva Nessie, viva la France!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Changing Plans…
Many of Edinburgh’s downtown streets are torn up for utilities work related to new tram lines—so it’s challenging to get through many intersections. Likewise (on a much grander scale), the volcanic dust cloud airport closures present huge challenges for hundreds of thousands of travelers. Ah, but where there is challenge there is often opportunity. Monday AM I found out early on BBC TV news that all UK airports were closed for the day, thus putting the kibosh on my 1 PM flight to Paris.
I didn’t come all this way just to sit and stew in Edinburgh though if you must be stranded somewhere E is a fine city to explore, street construction notwithstanding. I formulated a plan to get to Paris by train: get a seat on the Eurostar train from London to Paris-2 hrs 15 min—done online but I could not get Tuesday, had to get for Wedsnesday; buy a cell phone to communicate with Karen and make arrangements to use her spare flat then buy a train ticket from E to London—4 hrs 45 min. It took most of the day to do but I accomplished all the chores. Again I used the cable from the Haymarket Hotel after breakfast; another hat-tip to Adrena. I emailed my Paris hotel to expect me Wednesday not Monday and regretfully cancelled my Tuesday morning stroll with Paris Greeters.
The desk clerk in the hotel across the street from the Lairg (a bonnie young lass) was most helpful in the process. She looked up and printed walking directions to Karen’s flat and gave me a brochure for Grayline coach tours. Used my new cell phone to book a tour to the Highlands and Loch Ness (12 hrs) and my pickup in the morning is at a Travelodge nearby the flat. I asked for and received a £5 senior discount (concession) on my £40 tour ticket—pay the driver at pickup.
I hoofed it around the city to get the phone, pick up the keys at Karen’s attorney’s office, etc. Signage is excellent around the city or I’d have been continually lost and asking for directions. There are signs on the 2nd story of buildings at every junction. E planners deserve credit for allowing lots of green space around the city. Here’s one:
At Karen’s flat I was able to get online and she emailed me directions for turning on the heat and hot water and how to get to the closest shops. She has a Hondo large body guitar. I tuned it a little and wrote her a song, “Thanks to Karen”. I used the webcam and mic in my netbook to record the tune on YouTube then sent her a link.
I found a really good supermarket just where she said it would be—down the steps and walk along toward the “fancy building” to the busy street about a quarter mile away. Bought 2 bags of goodies, enough for 2 breakfasts and 2 evening meals. Here’s the landmark building:
I felt good at the end of the day because I had accomplished a lot. The journey continues minus 2 nights in Paris plus a day trip to the scenic Highlands, a new cheap (£23) top-up cell phone usable in UK and in Paris if necessary with a new SIM card and 2 nights free lodging here in this lovely and historic Scottish city.
Voila!