Tag Archives: travel

Paris for la 3ème time…

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2023 is a roundy birthday for me as I turn 50 in July. I’ve never been a big party person so at some stage last year I decided I’d rather mark my birthday with a holiday for just Catriona and myself to head away and spend some time together. We’ve visited Paris twice before with the last visit in September 2004, almost a full year before Owen was born! I’m not a city person normally but for some reason Paris clicked with me before and I’ve always wanted to return.

We booked to fly out at 7am from Dublin on Saturday morning* and back from Paris at 10:30pm on Tuesday night giving us maximum time to spend enjoying the city. This meant a lack of sleep on Friday night but we reckoned it was worth it. I headed to bed at 9pm with the intention of getting a few hours of rest, if not sleep, ready to leave about 1am. The holiday almost started with a disaster when I woke suddenly at 1:30am having either slept through the alarm or turned it off in my sleep! A minor panic, a very quick bite to eat and we got away just before 2am. Despite the heavy rain we made good time and arrived at the park and fly hotel at 4:20am just in time for the next shuttle bus and were checked in and through security only 30min later than I originally planned and with loads of time for food before our flight boarded.

*coincidentally Saturday was April 1st and the 25th Anniversary of the day we met!

We flew with Ryanair so arrived at Beauvais Airport. This means a bus transfer into Paris of approximately 1hr15min. With the queue and a further metro transfer we arrived close to our accommodation at just after noon. The Metro station was less than 10min from the Eiffel Tower and approximately 10min from our accommodation and as we could check in from 2pm we decided to hold on to our luggage while we went for our first look at la Tour.

After a short dander and simple enjoyment of having finally arrived we bought some overpriced, but very welcome, lunch from one of the food stalls and sat on a wall above the Seine and simply soaked in the atmosphere before wandering off to find our accommodation.

We had booked a studio apartment via Air BnB* and after some minor confusion over the entrance door we were in and able to get rid of all the necessary luggage and gear and get a short lie down before going out to explore.

*initially booked as hotels were ferociously expensive but this spot turned out to be almost perfect, gave us loads of freedom and was in a cracker location.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around letting ourselves go with no real destination and visiting some of the spots we had visited on previous trips. We started back at the Eiffel Tower, walked through the gardens behind (loads of people using the grassy areas to play, eat, drink and read), visited Hôtel des Invalides (where Napoleon lies in his tomb below a golden roof), finishing off at Place de la Concorde and les Jardin des Tuileries.

With feet and legs that were now tiring quickly we decided to jump on the Metro back to where we started and began the hunt for somewhere to eat. An Italian restaurant close to the apartment and doing a tasty sounding range of pizzas was soon picked as the one. I was feeling good about my ability to communicate in poor French until the waiter only brought us one pizza instead of two! I was halfway through it before we managed to rectify the situation 🤣 We left stuffed with pizza and topped off with beer and wine and also our first indication that France was also showing signs of price increases, just like home!

Catriona’s sister had been in Paris the previous week and had told us about the light show at the Eiffel Tower after dark. After a short rest at the apartment we wrapped up and headed back out. We were halfway across the bridge at 9pm and in a perfect spot to watch the 5min show.

Walking home with achy legs and feet an early night was most definitely needed to be able for 3 more days exploring.

50 states of the usa

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“50 States of the USA” written and read by Anna McNuff

This post may contain spoilers.

It’s not commonplace that a good author also has the ability to be a good reader. Anna McNuff is brilliant at both! Not only is this an excellent description of her challenge but she reads it with passion and a huge sense of fun. She obviously loved her time during this book, revels in reliving it and it pumps out of the speakers. I’m totally convinced that this is a book enhanced by being an audiobook version.

I’ve read and listened to a number of books on endurance activities now. Most are based on long-distance hiking of the PCT or AT and a couple on long distance cycling. The most notable of the latter was Mark Beaumont’s story of his world record cycle round the world but this story has more in common with the best of the hiking stories I’ve listened to.

While many adventure stories focus on either the journey and the places encountered or the organisation of getting to and through the challenge this story is mostly about the people the author met along the way. While she camped plenty she managed to spend a lot of time staying with friends, friends of friends and hosts through the Warm Showers association which this story is an excellent advertisement for.

Throughout the book the author is continually surprised by the warmth and generosity of the people she meets but I’m positive that it is partly her own wonderful nature that brings this out in people she encounters.

If you want an uplifting experience and to hear an encouraging story about society in general but especially American society then this book is for you. It’s so nice to hear positive stories about America and especially small town America that seems to get bad press in many media.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

More on Goodreads and Audible.

Republished as “The United States of Adventure”

Header image source: fossbytes.com

trippin’ through my 60s

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Trippin’ Through My 60s by Reginald Spittle

From Amazon:

As a child of the Sixties, Reg Spittle was no stranger to unrest and rebellion. So it was no surprise that, at age 60, when he closed his office door for the last time and left the working world behind, his restlessness would lead him to a path less traveled.

Trippin’ Through My 60s is a lighthearted look at how Reg discovered and pursued his passion for trekking along four famed European long-distance trails:

  • Scotland’s West Highland Way
  • The Alps’ Tour du Mont Blanc
  • Italy’s Way of St. Francis
  • England’s South West Coast Path

Unexpected challenges, wrong turns, and humor evoke memories of life in the Sixties and create the backdrop for Reg’s adventures as he tackles backpacking escapades that push him to the edge.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’ve been following Reg’s blog for quite a while now (Books and my Backpack) and enjoy his reviews and recommendations of books by other authors. He mentions his own two books occasionally but isn’t pushy with them. However, I’ve been meaning to check them out for quite a while now. Recently, I spotted this book, his second, on Amazon and added it to my reading list.

This book covers four trekking trips that Reg and his wife Sue undertook in their retirement. I was particularly interested as the first two treks were The West Highland Way and The Tour de Mont Blanc. I was interested to see how they coped with the challenge of these two tough trails.

Reg has a very casual and relaxed way of writing. Even when he and his wife are struggling to cope with the conditions and demands of the trail he seems to be able to retain good spirits and take the best from every situation.

I very much enjoyed those first two treks as I’ve watched some YouTube videos of walkers on the West Highland Way and canoeists on the Great Glen Way. My visit to Switzerland in 2019 to Pierre’s house in Valais also involved a day trip to Chamonix which is where the Tour de Mont Blanc starts and finishes. Lots of the scenery and placenames were familiar and there was a real sense of adventure from their depiction.

The final two treks were also interesting but less adventurous than the first two. I also found the descriptions of these two trips a bit repetitive, especially the English trip which is why I dropped a star*

Overall I really enjoyed this book, Reg and his wife are inspiring to anyone considering long distance and multi day treks. They are living proof that age shouldn’t be a barrier to your dreams and that it’s never too late to chase them. I’d recommend this book to anyone with an interest in walking or the outdoors.

*I was very tempted to drop a second star due to his horrified reaction to eating smokey bacon crisps for the first time. My favourite flavour!

Header image by Kaboompics .com from Pexels

a walk in the woods

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A Walk in The Woods by Bill Bryson

From Goodreads:

The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America—majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaining guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way—and a couple of bears. Already a classic, A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in).

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I came to this book having watched the film a few days ago. The film is decent but I had a feeling there was more to the story in the book. In an unusual flip I found the book was enhanced by having seen the film. Sure, some of the scenes were modified, switched around or simply invented for the film but the spirit of the book is definitely there. What really enhanced the book though was Nick Nolte’s excellent portrayal of Katz. I couldn’t help but see and hear him jumping out of every page and piece of dialogue. Despite how it happened he ended up being a perfect casting choice.

Katz is the success of this book. Bryson himself is very straight, introspective and sometimes abrasive and arrogant. Katz provides the comedic element but also some of the most emotional and thought provoking parts of the story.

It’s hard to think of this book as non-fiction or a travelogue but it’s both. There are lots of negative reviews on Goodreads, mostly based on a negative view of Bryson but I really enjoyed it. It provides a great view of what it’s like to walk a long distance trail and also a nice historical record of how the AT came about. There are many interjections about how the nature of the American wilderness has and still is changing. Probably one for people interested in hiking and camping though.

Header image by Ricardo Esquivel from Pexels

planes, trains and automobiles

Early start Saturday for my trip to Switzerland with Jim to visit Pierre’s. I was a bit nervous about travelling due to the recent Coronavirus outbreak and blanket news coverage but decided to go anyway. I wasn’t sure what to expect but apart from signage in the airports and trains and queues in the toilets to wash hands I didn’t see much different. Another passenger in Belfast International thought the airport was very quiet but I didn’t see much difference to when we went to Prague last year and my flight to Geneva seemed full.

The flight from Belfast was really good. We were flying above the clouds with very sunny conditions and breaks in the cloud gave tantalising views of the English and French countryside below. On the approach to Geneva the Alps were poking majestically above the clouds.

In an attempt to get a discounted train fare to Le Châtelard I had a 4 hour wait in Geneva. It was clear and dry but very cold and as I had a heavy bag I only walked down to the lake to see the view and then back to the train station with a stop at McDonald’s for something to eat. Even that short walk gave an indication of the sights of Geneva although I was mildly disappointed that “Le Jet D’Eau” wasn’t in operation today.

After food was the long wait in the train station followed by the train journeys to Martigny and then change to Le Châtelard. Slight stress out at Martigny as the incoming train was 4min late and I only have 9min to make the change from Platform 1 to 40. Panic subsided when I realised this was simply a matter of crossing the tracks via the subway!

busy train to martigny

Arrived in Le Châtelard at 21:55, bang on time and greeted at the train station by a barrage of snowballs! Made it 😊

every day is a school day

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Some things we learned from our trip to London:

  • London is noisy. There’s a constant background hum, even at night. It was Owen that first mentioned it but it was only when we got home that I realised how much.
  • When you ask people for advice (Simon and the Oyster Card! ) then you should pay heed and follow that advice
  • Following on from the above, if you need to clarify your previously received advice ask someone for help.
  • The Underground is a really good way to get around and there are specific apps to help you plan journeys as well as the overland trains. However, don’t forget about Google Maps. It covers trains and buses as well as pedestrian journeys.
  • The Oyster Card is the easiest, quickest and cheapest way to pay for the Underground.
  • There are very few convenience type shops in the centre of London. Bring snacks and drinks with you as they are expensive in the attractions. Boots is an alternative as the bigger ones do sandwich meal deals.
  • Kids (ie. our boys) get hungry and very hungry way before adults do.
  • Book attractions online in advance of your trip and look for multi buy options as the more you book the more value you get.
  • Allow time for queues. All 3 attractions we did had a 30min queue to get in.
  • Saturday mornings are mega busy at attractions and best avoided.
  • There are lots of very helpful people to assist you at the Underground (Blue Hi-Viz vests) and along the streets, mainly at attractions (Pink T-shirts and/or Hi-Viz vests).
  • Despite the rumours not everyone will step over you if you were dying. There are many lovely people that will help a stranger.
  • There are quite a few homeless people around but they tend to keep themselves to themselves except when begging on the Underground – or throwing beer at me 🙈
  • It’s worth getting off the Underground and wandering around by foot. However, the distances do mount up quite easily as the main sights are quite spread out – London is BIG.
  • London is expensive to get around but food and drink are reasonably good value if you take time to look around.
  • It’s a great place to visit – plan ahead and get the most from your trip.

I feel like Baz Lurhmann after writing that!

all good things come to an end

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When we booked our flights we chose a later flight for Saturday to allow us to have an extra day to explore. However, we didn’t have a plan for how to spend this last day.

On our last trip to England (August 2014) we made a day trip from Catriona’s brother’s in Bracknell to London mainly to visit the Natural History Museum. The boys enjoyed it and as Conor couldn’t remember it much (he was 6 then) he asked to go back today.

Today was not a good day to visit the museum! We should have realised that a Saturday in the middle of the school holidays would be busy but it was jammed! The galleries were packed, really uncomfortably so, very warm and stuffy, incredibly noisy and generally an unpleasant place to be.

We had a look around at a few things but after an hour decide to give up. Thankfully we had such a good week that this experience didn’t spoil our trip as we were already taking home some great memories.

dippy has been replaced by hope

I was really disappointed by the dinosaur display. It was fantastic in 2014 but much reduced now. Too many display boards and many fewer dinosaur displays.

One full gallery was given over to this huge Moon sculpture. It was impressive but I couldn’t help wondering if the room could have been put to a more interesting use? On the plus side it was air conditioned ✅

was there a moon version of atlas?

We consoled ourselves with a trip to McDonald’s for lunch using the vouchers we saved from yesterday before catching the tube and overland trains to London Luton Airport and our flight home.

We were a few hours early so we had time to relax in the bar and listen to the Highland Radio commentary of Donegal unfortunately getting beaten by Mayo 😭

relaxing at the airport bar

last photo in england

After the dodgy start to our trip it was a relief to take off on time, arrive 10min early, get away efficiently from the hotel parking and get back home to our comfortable beds before 1am.

A great trip with great memories. Very different to our trip to Majorca last year but one we will all remember.

banged up abroad

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Friday was definitely our best day in London. Our 3rd pre-booked activity was London Dungeons. This is totally in darkness and photography was forbidden so I’ve no photos to show. It’s a mixture of live actors, props, noises, spooky music and two rides covering the dungeons in Henry VIII’s time, the torturer, Guy Fawkes, Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett, The Black Plague, The Great Fire, a mock court and jailhouse and a ride to simulate a hanging. Really well done and scared the bejeebus out of Conor. Definitely wouldn’t advise it for u10s but we all had a ball, even Conor!

Afterwards it was food time. We had vouchers for McDonald’s so headed for the nearest one in Leicester Square. As we got nearer we spotted a Pizza Hut. It’s our favourite place to eat and very rare we get an opportunity to visit one so we ditched McD’s for the “all you can eat” buffet.

Outside we took in the atmosphere of Leicester Square which has to be the coolest place in London. I could have sat there all day listening to the music and watching the world go by.

leicester square

Next stop was Catriona’s choice – Harrods. We decided to walk this time and really glad we did as the route took us by the M&M store, The Apollo Theatre, Piccadilly Circus, The Wellington Monument, Hyde Park Corner and Kensington with all it’s very fancy car dealerships and stores.

this place was mental

entrance to chinatown

even the side streets are decorated and colourful

apollo theatre

eros

picadilly screens

wellington monument

hyde park corner

Harrods was crazy, even more than the M&M store but for very different reasons! It was equally as busy but only about half of the people there were spending any money, probably about 10% spending serious money. The wealth on display from this 10% and the disregard for cost was eye opening.

even the escalator area was extravagant

While Catriona and the boys looked around the sweet hall for something small to take home I went looking for the beds department just to see what the other half buy. It was amazing although I was seriously unimpressed by the sales guy I could overhear showing a customer around. If he works on commission it didn’t show! I considered leaving my CV 😆

that’s correct, a kingsize mattress costs almost £17k and the display is over £31k!

After Harrods it was back on the tube and back to the apartment. All the way home I couldn’t help but wonder what all those mega wealthy people were doing right now.

wax on, wax off

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The pre-booked attraction for our 3rd day was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. It wasn’t until 1230 which gave us the chance to have a bit of a lie in after all our walking the day before.

I’d done a bit of research on the Oyster Card before going to London and despite excellent advice from Simon I’d decided it still seemed expensive, was going to cost us £20 (4 x £5) to buy and not save us much. Plus we were going to walk everywhere. Basically we* got it all wrong! A very friendly and helpful information guy at Tower Hill took the time to explain the card properly, explain how the £20 was refundable and would save us at least 50% on payg tickets. So carded up and happier to be walking a lot less** we took a wander around the outside of the Tower and down to the Tower Bridge viewpoint before getting the Underground to Baker Street.

*we = me of course 🙈

**we still managed almost 11km of walking despite using the tube quite a bit today.

tower of london – poppies all removed since our last visit

tower bridge

celebs in london 😆

As we still had some time to spare and I’m a big fan of Elementary I dragged everyone to see 221b Baker Street which isn’t actually 221b Baker Street!

sherlock holmes museum which claims the location

the famous address

I didn’t really think that they had used the actual address in S7 of Elementary but was still slightly disappointed it didn’t match the show

actual location was bloomsbury

Then it was back to our favourite thing to do in London – queue. Madame Tussauds was very busy but good queue management and efficient security meant we weren’t waiting too long and it wasn’t jammed once we got inside. I didn’t know what to expect so was surprised by the layout. There were less exhibits than I expected, less older celebrities but overall I was very impressed. All 4 of us really enjoyed the full experience and although the time flew past we felt that we experienced the whole thing. Some of my favourite photos are below but we took a lot throughout the exhibition’s many floors.

helen mirren

the most lifelike of the whole day

less smiley version of elliott

i want your boots, your clothes and your motorcycle

conor’s favourite of the day

thankfully not our air bnb

ronaldo

bolt

meeting the royals

trying to explain the backstop

he doesn’t look pleased to see me

but owen may have got there before me

a real president

smarter than the average bear

bob marley lost in the moment

madame tussaud herself

she looks like i goosed her!

definitely not my father no matter what he says

robin williams at the exit door to say goodbye

My only complaint with the museum was bringing everyone together for the 4D movie show (which was excellent). The queue starts in the Marvel gallery (which means you can’t get space to see the Marvel exhibition unless you wait for everyone to leave as the next queue gathers) and as everyone leaves the movie together the next Star Wars exhibition is jam packed and difficult to view.

After Madame Tussauds we headed to the Science Museum and this is where we (me again!) got it wrong again. We should have eaten before going. There wasn’t anything handy to Madame Tussauds but there was nothing at either Baker Street or South Kensington tube stations and once at the Science Museum, nothing within reasonable distance. Our only option was the Science Museum cafe which wasn’t geared towards kids at all. Far too many silly options of food that can only be described as “notions“. Kids want plain, ordinary and usually deep fried and breaded food. We really struggled to get something plain that the boys (and ourselves) could enjoy and be filled. It was way overpriced too! They would be better with a small entry fee, say £2 each, and charge more reasonable prices for food. They would probably make more profit that way.

The science museum itself was just OK. The ground floor had some interesting displays. The boys particularly enjoyed the space displays and the old stuff – mostly things I remember from my childhood! Upstairs there were galleries about the body, mind, climate and the future. We enjoyed it but it wasn’t gripping. I don’t know what I expected and although we spent about an hour and a half exploring and enjoyed it I don’t see how families can spend the day here as I’ve heard before. I think I expected something more similar to W5 in Belfast. Our experience could have been tainted by tiredness and not being properly fed though?

old enough to have stuff from my childhood in a museum!

The really good thing about South Kensington was that the underground took us straight back to Tower Hill with no stops! It was packed and very hot though so we were glad to be released back to the regular air conditioned train to go back to Grays. A trip to the chipper on the way home and normal service was soon resumed.

eye of the beholder

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Day 2 London was based around a trip (or flight) on the Coca Cola London Eye. We had it booked in advance via a 3 attraction deal.

Our “departure time” was 1130am so we decided to get the earliest off-peak train in to London from Grays and walk from Tower Hill to Westminster. We had pretty much decided that we could use the Underground pretty minimally and do most of our exploring by foot.

The walk from Tower Hill took us across to the South Bank and passed a number of unexpected sites including the monument to the Great Fire of London, the Shard (close by) and The Globe Theatre.

the very classical style monument sitting smack bang in a very modern cityscape

the shard was visible from many locations along the walk and from the eye itself

the globe theatre

The South Bank was a really unexpected surprise as we hadn’t really thought about the journey but seeing places like the Globe and the Tate Gallery made it a lot more interesting. The whole area between the Globe and Westminster is a real mix of food stalls, music and entertainers. A great place to visit that we pretty much stumbled on accidentally!

Catriona and myself had been on the Eye previously (2014) but this was a brand new experience for the boys. Despite the overcast clouds we had great views of the centre of London and further afield.

the eye from below

not the first or last time we’ve felt like doing this!

looking down river halfway up

towards st james’s park and buckingham palace

proper family pose

going over the top

up river from the very top – loved this particular view

big ben covered up for repairs and houses of parliament

After lunch in a nearby Subway we headed off on foot again, across the bridge to Westminster proper, along Horse Guards Road to The Mall before heading for Buckingham Palace (unfortunately no Garden Party for us today).

very tame squirrel at the edge of st james’s park

top of the mall. victoria memorial and palace

without the culchies!

barbarians at the gates

he must have been melting in the heat

victoria memorial

As the Queen wasn’t in to greet us we decided to try Boris instead and headed for Downing Street via Trafalgar Square

trafalgar square

nelson’s column

boris was out – off having dinner with the DUP apparently!

At this stage the rain was coming on and our plan to walk everywhere was starting to show some holes* so we decided to retreat gracefully and return to Tower Hill via the Underground and head back to the apartment a little earlier than planned but with a fully packed day behind us.

*my Garmin showed a daily total of 20,005 steps that evening, equivalent to 16.7km of walking. Too much for any of us in the heat, never mind the boys.