Merry

Tuesday 22nd July: While we were away we were unfortunate to lose our family pet Welsh Springer Spaniel, Merry,with a terminal illness. We are very much indebted to Amy for looking after her every day and night, while we were away. Amy has been a tower of strength and has made Merry as comfortable as possible and worked through things with our vet to enable her to have the best treatment possible. Thank you Amy. Thanks also to Trevor for staying over and helping for a week, and Pam for her support also.

Sydney to Canberra

Tuesday 22nd July: We had an express passage through customs, straight to the car desk. We picked up some familiar Australian refreshments, and drove on back to Canberra. Thanks to Joan and Allan for lunch at Southern Highlands, and to Pam and Trevor for dinner tonight also. Very much appreciated, and a nice welcome back home!

Snow Capped Mountains

Tuesday 22nd July: We could see snow capped mountains in the distance as we circled around to land at Kingsford-Smith airport. We recognised them as the Brindabellas, and we could also identify Black Mountain tower. Its Canberra in the distance! We didn't see much else on our 2 flights as it was dark or everyone was sleeping with shutters down. We did see the Paris and Singapore city lights on take-off, and we did see Sydney as we came into land on Tuesday morning, with mega jet lag!

Changi Airport

Monday 21st July: Changi Airport is huge! We spent 6 hours here, had a shower, changed clothes, lounged around on extremely comfortable seats and day-beds, watched some TV and Koi Carp, bought our last bits of duty free shopping and had our last taste of Malaysian food in absolute comfort and tranquility in this marvellous modern airport transit terminal. They even took Pounds and Euros in all the shops, very impressed with the Singapore people and service.

Charles De Gaulle

Sunday 20th July: We had a lot of luggage, but we also had plenty of wheels. We ended up on the load limit, thanks to an estimate on Sheila's bathroom scales earlier over the other side of the channel. Things went pretty smoothly, except that our plane was delayed for 90 minutes, so we were given complimentary sandwiches. No chance of being late for this flight! Singapore Airlines were quite good. Farewell France!

Castle Gardens

Sunday 20th July: These gardens are extensive! There are 100 acres to explore, there are golf buggies for hire, but we decided to exercise to counter the long plane trip effect. Its exhausting! There is 1.5km from top to bottom.! There is a hidden canal at the end, which creates about another 1km walk circuit! André Le Nôtre went on to become the most famous landscape gardener in Europe, commissioned also to do Versailles, Tuileries, Chantilly, Fontainebleu, St James Park, Windsor Castle, to name a few. ***** We left here to go direct to Charles de Gaulle airport and catch our plane back to Australia.

Chateau Interior

Sunday 20th July: This chateau is in good condition, but is still under restoration, however, the interior has been very well preserved, and portrays extravagance and an idea of life in the 17th century for royalty in France. We learned that this was one of the first dining rooms ever built as the French typically ate on occasional tables in living rooms. An example of a menu back then included Pigeon Soup! Every inch of the wall and ceilings were covered in art, such as this huge ceiling painting by Le Brun. Louis XIV played backgammon here, agruably! Apparently the kitchen was still operational until the late 1950s! There are candles everywhere, which are lit for evening openings in the summer, and sometimes classical music is played. Next time we'll go in the evening. Very interesting.

Vaux-le-Vicomte

Sunday 20th July: Not far away is this magnificent chateau, which was opened in 1661. It was built by Fouquet before the Palace of Versailles, and many of the ideas and the talent used to build the Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte were used to build Versailles, notably the architect Le Vau, the landscape gardener Le Nôtre, and the artist Le Brun. Trouble was, it was more luxurious and magical than any of Louis XIV palaces and Fouquet was eventually arrested and imprisoned for his extravagance!

Lagny-sur-Marne

Sunday 20th July: Even though this is only 25km from Paris, around here, not much English is understood nor spoken. There was a cute old cake and chocolate shop across the road from the café in the precinct, Rue du Chemin de Fer. Specialities, once bought, were wrapped in a special box with ribbon. Shortly after this, we said farewell to our English friends, as they drove back to Calais, and we had the afternoon until our flight late tonight. It was an enormous 4 days holiday in France!

Lagny Markets

Sunday 20th July: We said 'Au Revoir' to our B&B at Gouvernes and 'Merci Beaucoup' to our wonderful hosts, Daniel and Monique. We explored the busy street markets on the Rue Des Marchés, which proved to be fruitful for a couple of french last minute items. We sat down for baguettes and drinks at a corner café 'La Loco' with good service for our large group of 7 personnes!