This post covers a number of the things we did in Paris. Some of these were because the Louvre and the d’Orsay Museums were closed due to the Seine river being five meters above it normal level. A walkway is normally to the left of the box at the front of this picture. Sainte-Chapelle The… Continue reading The Grand Tour 38 – Paris

Having had our museum visits curtailed by the rising Seine river we’ve had to change plans and find other things to do. This is not difficult in Paris. We visited the Arc de Triomphe during a commemoration ceremony. I was not able to find out what it was for, but they have the French flag… Continue reading The Grand Tour 37 – Arc de Triomphe

On the Eiffel Tower you are prohibited from attaching padlocks to the protective cages. This is a thing all over Paris – couples attaching padlocks to (mostly) bridges, and then throwing the key in the water as a sign of everlasting love. The most well known bridge for this activity was the Pont des Arts,… Continue reading The Grand Tour 36 – The Eiffel Tour

Odd to have a post about the river, but it’s really in the news. A lot of rain in tributary areas – 6 weeks worth in 3 days – has pushed the level up to five meters more than normal. Our taxi from the TGV station was held up for 20 minutes in near gridlocked… Continue reading The Grand Tour 35 – The Seine River

Thursday was the day of another French train strike, a continuation of the strike that had delayed our trip from Genova to Nice.  However, this train was running as scheduled, and left bang on time at 9h25. We booked first class because it has extra leg room and this was well worth the price difference.… Continue reading The Grand Tour 34 – TGV

On the Passion Facade of Sagrada Familia is a 4×4 magic square. All the lines in the square add up to the number 33, which was the age of Jesus at the time of the Passion. It is also, by coincidence, the number of this post. In order to understand the architecture of the church,… Continue reading The Grand Tour 33 – La Sagrada Familia

The main reason we visited Provence was to visit many of the small picturesque villages in the region. Lacoste, Bonnieux, Cadenet, Lumeron, and Lauris to name a few. We also visited Aix-en-Provence and Avignon. This won’t be a comprehensive post – it’s not possible to cover five whole days in one post – these a just… Continue reading The Grand Tour 32 – The Villages of Provence

The Priory of Saint Pierre de Mejans is located in Puyvert, Provence, and historical records from 1118 show it was owned at that time by the Abbey of Saint Andé de Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. We stayed there for 5 nights. The priory has been associated with winemaking since at least 1343. In January of that year the Archbishop… Continue reading The Grand Tour 31 – The Priory

This morning we got up early to drive from Zoagli to Genova to catch a train to Nice, in France. What we didn’t know was that there was a strike of rail workers. What we also didn’t know is that can on the departures board means cancelled. The train had a platform number so we thought it… Continue reading The Grand Tour 30 – Delayed and Detained

As promised, I’m backtracking to Italy. One of the reason we chose to stay in Zoagli is that it is not a ‘tourist town’. We wanted to have some space from thousands of other people. We also needed a car park and Caroline found a place that had stunning sea views. Like this. So, along with… Continue reading The Grand Tour 29a – Cinque Terre/ 5 Towns