April 23, 2012 - Paris

Bonjour mes amie,

Today we headed off for Paris by train from Liverpool.  The first portion of our trip (Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston) took just over two hours and we were on the quiet car.  I had packed a picnic lunch complete with wine which we enjoyed while enjoying the scenery and reading on our iPads. Once in London we took the tube from Euston to St. Pancras, one stop and then boarded the Eurostar to Paris for another 2 1/4 hour ride.  It was a nice relaxing way to travel especially for Fred who is always the driver on our journeys.  I dozed off on this portion of the trip as my throat was starting to hurt.  Once in Paris we took the RER which is part of the rail system in Paris to the Arch de Triomphe which was a 5 minute walk if that to our hotel (Renaissance Arc de Triomphe).

Once we had settled in we decided to explore the area.  As we were not very hungry, we looked for a place that offered sandwiches and lighter food.  We came across a cafe/bar called Indiana which offered what we were looking for and it was an Southwestern American style pub.  We had a good laugh as we came all this way to Paris to be surrounded by pictures of North American Indians as seen in the upper right hand corner.  Who would have thought that my heritage would pop up in Paris of all places.  Our waitress told us she wondered what these people would think of their pictures being here on display.  I laughed again, no worries here as they are long dead.

Tummies satisfied we headed to the Arch De Triomphe to get some photos of it at night.  We got  

some excellent shots as the traffic was much lighter than it is in the daytime.  Built in 1806-1836 by the Emperor Napoleon 1st it is 164 feet high and you can take the 277 steps to the top to get views of Paris. Following the war of 1914-1918 it was decided to bury an unidentified soldier beneath the Arch.  There is an eternal flame to mark the grave, which is replenished every evening at 6:30 p.m.  We could see the Eiffel Tower off in the distance and decided to walk to it to get photos of it lit up.  One would think we knew exactly where we were going as we just happen to take the right Avenue (of 12 that radiate from the Arc de Triomphe) that took us to the Jardins du Trocadero a square that looks down towards the tower.

It was now late at night but we still had to run the gauntlet of Africans selling junky trinkets of the tower.  Very annoying but I guess they got to make a living somehow.  The Tower was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889 by Gustave Eiffel.  It is 1,052 ft high and weighs 7,340 tons.  It has 2,500,000 bolts that hold 14,000 girders in place.  The tower is repainted every 7 years and it takes 40 tons of paint to do the job.  There are 1,652 steps and 3 floors to the tower.  If you are energetic and walk up the tower you can only reach the 2nd floor and have to take a lift (elevator) to reach the 3rd floor.  The top of the tower sways up to 5 inches depending on the winds and the height can vary up to 5.9 inches depending on the weather.  Once the photo ops were completed we headed back to the hotel.

We decided to walk back to the hotel although we could have taken the Metro from here if we wanted, and for once Fred got all turned around.  I have a moment of directional clarity and got us going in the right direction which if you know me well enough is amazing as I really don't have a sense of direction; so this was a rare moment indeed.  Once we were back at the hotel we planned what we wanted to do on our first full day in Paris and hoped the weather was going to co-operate.

Au revoir,

Sandy & Fred

April 21, 2012 - Chirk Castle

Helo All,

After a bit of a lie in and breakfast we headed back home.  The weather again was wet and dry.  We decided to stop at Chirk Castle, which is located just outside Wrexham, about an hour and ten minutes from home.  It was very busy as it was a Saturday and in hindsight we should have passed and did our visit midweek.  The castle was first built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer de Chirk.  It was bought by Thomas Myddelton in 1595 and the Myddelton family resided there until 2004.

So it became more of a family residence than a castle and thus is very well preserved.  The artifacts in the house span the period of time since 1295 and the decoration and furniture is very opulent.  We spent about two hours exploring  and stopped in the tea room for a scone which we shared and hot tea for me and beer for Fred.  As I mentioned earlier there were a lot of rug rats everywhere as well as adults and I really don't know which were more of an annoyance.  Misbehaving kids or rude adults both which Fred and I have no patience for.  Well lesson learned no sites on weekends ever again.  We stopped at the farm shop on our way out and purchased a couple of local brewed cider for me and beer for Fred as well as pheasant and herbed sausage. We had the sausage for supper on Sunday and it was very delicious and I would get again.  It would be worth a trip back to Chirk just for the sausage, all products sold in the store is sourced from the castle grounds.

We hope you have enjoyed our blogs of our mini trip to South Wales and stay tuned as we are heading off to Paris, The City of Love on Monday.

Hwyl am Rwan Nawr,

Sandy & Fred

April 20, 2012 - Dinefwr Castle & Aberdulais Falls

Helo All,    

Our first stop for the day was Dinefwr Castle and Newton House.  The weather once again was rain and sun or a combination of both.  The nav chick continues to take on some weird routes and the National Trust book had warned against following sat nav due to problems that had been reported.  Luck was with us as the weather had cleared up as we arrived.   As the castle is a ruin, we decided to head their first while the weather holds.  The walk to the castle was through the parkland that is part of the grounds.  Our walk took us up through a bog forest, a forest with ancient trees and pasture land. The walk was all up hill and half way there I am totally winded and I am not the one who is sick.  Fred was managing very well considering how bad his cold was.  A very good indicator that I must get into better shape before our trip to Maui.

As always, here's a bit of history on the castle.  Dinefwr became the chief seat of Rhodri's grandson Hywel Dda, the first ruler of Deheubarth and later king of most of Wales.  Between 1155-1197 the castle went through various stages of growth and demolition.  Near the end of the 15th century Sir Rhysl ap Thomas rebuilt the castle and what we see of the remains today.  Around 1600 Newton House was built and the castle was then used as a summer house.

The views from the top of the ruins down into the valley are spectacular and we got a number of amazing photos.  We spent a good half hour exploring and climbing the various remaining turrets. I for some reason had issues with height at the highest remaining lookout so Fred was on his own to take final shots of the valley.  I am not sure if the narrow steps or the fact I got so winded getting to the castle contributed or it's just age catching up.

After the castle we headed back to explore Newton House, that has been restored as to how it would would look during the early Victorian and late Edwardian periods.  The rooms are all very large and airy with some amazing plasterwork on the ceilings.  The staircase was also very interesting but you will have to check out photos on Flickr or my Facebook wall to see them as the blog does not allow me to share all the pictures I would like.  While we were exploring the house a group of deer romped around the back which is the grounds deer park.  There was a stag relaxing, however, with our cameras he was just too far away for a decent picture.

Our next stop of the day was Aberdulais Tinworks and Falls. Once again the nav chick took us on some hairy roads.  The scenery was breathtaking but so was the ride for me at various points.  Fred once again was a master navigator, managing to ignore my grabbing of the door and seat.  The Tinworks was rather disappointing after our castle visit as there was little remaining of the factory and the falls were small.  We spent about 30 minutes here mostly taking pictures then decided to head back to the hotel.       

At the hotel we headed down to the lobby to access the free WiFi so that I could post pictures and download the Times.  Unlike our first night which was quiet, we were invaded by a bus load of seniors and a rugby team as well as a group that were in for a stag weekend.  Noisy is a understatement.  We checked out supper menu and turns out we had to book a table due to the influx of people.  Booked, we headed back to the room for a bit of peace and quiet before supper.  Almost sounds like we are becoming crotchety old folk, but we have always enjoyed our quiet times as they are accompanied with a nice glass of red wine.
Hwyl am Rwan Nawr,

Sandy & Fred

Wales Mini Break- April 19, 2012

Helo All,

Today, Fred and I headed off on a mini break for two nights to Swansea in South Wales, so that we did not lose points we have accumulated with the Accor Hotel Group.  The weather while traveling was a very mixed bag.  We had sun, hail, rain, sun, rain and yet more sun.  The Welsh countryside was very pretty and varied.  Mountains, valleys, hills and dales with many rivers.  The picture on the left is a sample of the countryside as we traveled to Swansea by way of Tenby, a seaside town.

It was cool but dry as we walked around Tenby.  The town certainly has its fair share of pubs and chippies on every street, which are for the most part narrow.  The homes, hotels and cottages along the bay are jammed together and very colourful.  One can only imagine how crowded the beach as seen on the right is in the summer.  The town itself is surrounded by remnants of the 13th century medieval wall and gates, St Marys a 15th century church and a 15th Century Tudor Merchants House.

The house has been painstakingly restored by the National Trust with the ground and second floor now completed.  The ground floor would be were the merchant carried out his business, the first would be were the family entertained, ate and did day-to-day things with the upper floor being the bedrooms.  There were fireplaces on each floor and these were substantial in size.  Once we had finished our exploring we headed off to Swansea and our hotel which will be our base for the next couple of days.

Once settled, we decided to have supper in the hotel.  They offered a 3 course menu for a very good price, so we went for that.  We both had coconut breaded scampi with a sweet Thai chili dipping sauce, Fred had hake and I had chicken with Fred having a sticky toffee for dessert while I had a mocha coffee.
Stuffed, we headed to our room to plan the next days activities.

Hwyl am Rwan Nawr,

Sandy & Fred