Wednesday - walk downtown

Left: a lovely historical building in downtown

We started the day before 10am, which is not bad at all for us. Unfortunately, we jumped on the subway going in the wrong direction.


A kind woman explained the letters on each station, and that the N is an express, which we used to get downtown (near the action - uptown is the Bronx, as in nothing soft comes out of the Bronx).

Right: Going underground in the subway

We got out near the Woolworth building and Town Hall, so we wandered around there, going to Westfield shopping centre at the old twin towers site. The form is like the metal structure that was poking up after the towers went down.
The two big holes in the ground at the memorial are sobering, along with all the names of the people who died. There must have been around 400 firefighters, cops, and other service people in the list, which was a surprise. They put flowers in the names of people on their birthdays.
We got down to Battery Park on the waterfront, very nice views. Walked along until the boys got hungry and ended up at Lox cafe inside the Jewish Museum for some egg sandwich, a Borsch soup and a herring dish, all very good in my opinion, although we had to threaten the boys to eat it.




Left: streetscene in Brooklyn.









Right: Heading onto the Brooklyn bridge. Peds left, bike lane is on the right.












Left: One of the other bridges to Manhattan











Right: bike rider ahoy! Walkers jump to hop out of the bike lane.

Walked along further to the ferry but decided not to go on, and trained it to Brooklyn, so we could walk back over the bridge. The boys enjoyed that a lot. The bike riders must go totally mad while the tourists walk back and forth over their bike lane, generally unaware. We didn't realise until a guy was ringing his bell and did not move out of his lane, so we did.

Left: the wooden deck of the Brooklyn bridge

Right: the boys check out the traffic

Left: Louis dresses like the locals.

Finished with a pit stop on the way home at Union Square. Tonight Marie is out for a girls night with Alicia.



Note; I have many many photos, so decided to blog one day per post to put up as many as I could.

Tuesday - clothes washing, Maths museum.

Tuesday - it's rainy. We do a load of washing, which is incredibly fast, at the laundromat. Go to Star bucks for week coffee and a place to sit, for lack of options. Lunch is a ham sandwich at the hotel room - very economical. Mate the bread here tastes like cake - 10g in the hundred is sugar.
The afternoon is at the moderately boring Maths Museum - a Mobius strip with a car/camera on it, a rolling platform sitting on acorn type shapes is sort of interesting. The room with the wood 3D puzzles is frustrating as always. The kids had a good time with the cart/flexy track setup, and the platform where you physically had to move to move the circle on the screen in a computer game of putting it through the gates. Dinner is a salad at the Belgian Beer Cafe, nice beers.

Monday in Joisey

Left: we made it to Alicia's place! At last.

Monday - meet up with Alicia. The guy at the ticket office at the Port Authority Bus Terminal does not know where Morganville is, so we get tickets to Lord knows where.

The bus ride is like a ride through a Terminator movie, between the 14 lanes freeway, the massive Newark airport, the massive chemical manufacture complex, the power plant etc.

Right; Alicia's monster back yard. No idea where it ends

Eventually we arrive in suburbia, drive through banks, medium box/mass parking type shops etc.  We miss our stop and get out at Irvine St to be picked up by Alicia.

At her place, the boys happily play on their playstation thing. Lunch is huge pizza, and after we go for a walk in the forest in their back yard. Ollie, after we tell him not to cross on that log repeatedly, goes straight in the drink up to his shins. I suppose you have to learn. He borrows some shoes from Hugh.


Harold's New York Deli Restaurant barely enough to eat

In the evening we go to Harold's New York deli for the biggest ribs, and pastrami/roast beef sandwich, in the universe, with Alicia's family, and roll home hoping we don't explode.

Harold's New York Deli Restaurant

Harold's New York Deli Restaurant

Sunday - ice skating

Big coffees, big sugary drinks, and big sugary muffins.


Sunday - got out late enough, went ice skating at 11am on Trump's rink - very pleasant! A perfect winter's day, mild, sunny, comfortable as.

New York subway fun

New York Central Park running around in the snow

Skating at Trump's skate rink

Lunch is at about 4pm at a sandwich place, slightly dodgy, a bit greasy on the floor, and dark. Then more TV before sleeping. Don't want to rush around much.

Saturday - New York

Saturday - fly to Yankeeland. Up at 5.30am, the others bleary eyed but also up, then rolling at 6.20am. Returning the car is quick except for finding the desk. The check in lady asks questions and is taking forever. Then we need to swap some weight out of one bag. We get through security late. Marie goes champagne shopping while I realise, panicked, that the board is showing Final Call for our flight. I tell Marie I'm taking the boys to the gate! She arrives empty handed as she thought I had the boarding passes, needed for duty free purchases, as they start to page us.
The in flight entertainment is some TVs hanging from the roof like in a country coach. Dealing with the flight attendants is like a slap in the face after the politesse of France. One lady is incredibly rude: "You got your seat belts on? Keep them on!", while the others tend to be nicer but don't say much - weird a bit sad. No probs in customs, after eventually finding the ATM getting tickets to the airtrain for cash, and two weekly subway tickets (boys are free) is easy. We get dinner fast, and everyone's asleep by about 7 or 8pm local time.

Friday - Étampes

Friday - lazy day today. Kids watch TV, while we pack up a bit, then go for lunch at nearby Etampes. It's quite a pretty town in the centre, typical homes, a church, the Mairie etc. I send off the bank stuff at last. The night we eat Raclette and drink champagne. Am gaining too much weight.

Etampes

Etampes

Etampes

Etampes

Etampes

Thursday - gay

Rainy and cold in Paris

Thursday - go to gay Paris on the RER C train, after some time of getting out of bed etc, and finding the commuter train station at Bouray near Lardy.

Get out at the Eiffel tower stop, have tourist lunch with 20% tax - no tip! The tower area now has a security fence around it. You have your bags searched, and a metal detector wand to check for weapons. Me and Ollie wait in the cold while Louis and Marie parade up the tower, and wander around for a good while.

We roll up the Trocadero gardens for a drink stop. The waitress is from Ohio. Then a stop at the bank where an upfriendly lady informs us we can't close the account without a forwarding account to send the balance.


For dinner, we have the lentils from Le Puy en Velay that we brought along with duck sausage from a farm near Rodez down south - excellent, really meaty.

Me, Stephane, Catherine, Alice, Marie.

Wednesday - Museum of Compagnonage, Mesnil-Racoin

The excellent simple hotel Berthelot. The owner used to be an engineer or something, but bought this place for something to do.

Wednesday - a bit rainy. Me and Louis go on the ferris wheel. This town has a bigger historic centre than you'd guess.





Go to the excellent Compagnonage museum. The Compagnonage is like an apprenticeship. They tour the country for two years learning then do a master work. The museum has a collection of miniatures - each model is about a metre cubed. The highlights include a stone bridge made of real stones, several wooden domes complete with staircases, and a steel gate that was made over a 14 year period. Impressive!




Museum of Campagnonage











Museum of Campagnonage











Museum of Campagnonage

Museum of Campagnonage

Lunch was in a restaurant that has a dog. He was very nice, popular with the boys.

A quick go on the roller coaster before we took off late afternoon.

En route we stopped at Orleans exactly at 5pm - which is when the bank shuts, so no money today. This town is beautiful, but needs more space for pedestrians

Orleans

.









Dinner at Stephane's. Cheese and fruit are obligatoire.

Wednesday night - arrived at Stephane's place. The GPS put us somewhere. Stephane asked if there was a lake next door, but it was too dark to see! This village is a beautiful collection of town homes side by side build up to the street, with back yards. No shops. We drive through the gates in the wall, along the cobbled driveway. Catherine comes out to check we're in the right spot. Says we don't need to take our shoes off, but this time the mud is everywhere due to rain or frost. We have our own room, with the boys on a mezzaninine, so they're stoked.

For dinner, we start with an apero of excellent whiskey, some champagne, and charcrute - sausage, ham, charcuterie and some sour crout.

Tuesday - Montsoreau

Brekky in Tours - saw an interesting book in the cafe - full of old photos of Tours.











Tuesday - rolled along the river, saw a nuclear power plant, homes that we build into the rock along the river bank. Stopped at the mushroom caves but they weren't open. Walked in town there,

Mushroom makers - Champignoniere - 

Montsoreau

Montsoreau

Montsoreau, along beautiful wiggly alley rolling up so there was a view over the river, and past a chateau - closed for winter. Lunch was at a ratty little bar that looked great from the outside. Mind you, it is always welcome to find somewhere to eat when so many places are closed for winter.

Back in Tours 

Rolled back to Tours and had a walk around

Monday - 9th Jan - Azay de Rideau

Monday - 9th Jan


 The castle Azay le Rideau -  a nice one.



Azay de Rideau - impressive place next to a river, with a moat. They are currently redoing the whole place









Azay le Rideau

Azay le Rideau













Azay le Rideau












Azay le Rideau

One room had a video of the work that goes into the edging of the curtains, the lace edging of the cushions - really amazing, all done by hand. Also the straw woven matting that went on the floor and all over the walls to create a real warmth in the room. It was a bed chamber of some famous bird.

Nice town! Lunch at a great restaurant. Waitress seemed a bit flustered. Crepe machine was not working for a bit.

The cathedral in the middle of Tours











Tours


 Afternoon back in Tours. Did some washing. Saw the cathedral. In the laundromat, some dodgy dude was sitting there, but there was no other washing. So I stayed with our things that were drying, he glanced at me, then left.

Old Tours is modern.