WHITE WINTER TOUR 2010

A combination of events – rising temperatures as summer gets into full swing, my new medication and the recent loss of my beloved pal Bilbo – pushes me towards the brink of depression. To fight that I have decided to get on with a project I have been considering for some time – transcribing all my travel diaries. And since I am going to do that, I thought I might as well post them as part of this blog – perhaps at the same time of the year as the original?

By chance the first of my diaries which I wrote on my computer was of our White Christmas Tour which took place this time last year. It started a little earlier than today – Christmas Eve, so I’ll post the entries three days at a time until I get up to date and then daily postings thereafter. Give y’all something to read over the Holiday Season.

Here goes:

Nasir Lemak at 39,000 ft. Saturday, December 18, 2010

39,000 feet up: 2,000 km to Paris. 22 hours and 35 minutes after leaving home, with a good night's sleep behind us - about seven hours each, my darling old Rab and I still revel in each other's company. We laugh about the foibles of the couple we met last night in the lounge at Kuala Lumpur - John and Carole. They are on the same trip as we are and are the classical complainers. There'll always be something wrong as far as John is concerned. Hope it is not too difficult to shake them!

Breakfast comes around, served by the smiling Honey-Bee, as she says we should call her. I've elected to have the Malaysian main course of Nasir Lemak - and it is a good choice. Spicy prawns with coconut rice and side dishes of small anchovies - dried and in a hot chili sauce. Great way to start the day.

We reflect on how comfortable the beds are, remembering our days in Economy on the old Air Zimbabwe 707 aircraft and contrast that with the comfort of these lie flat Business Class seats we have on Air Malaysia. Not a complaint, but if they were just a few inches longer, I'd be able to lie comfortably on my back.

Rab's leg (she cut it last Saturday, six days before we left) is still a bit of a worry, although it is looking quite good. But the oedema is still there and she probably will not be able to fit her boot on that foot for the moment. With the current weather forecast for Paris being light snow, and a temp hovering about freezing, that could be a bit of a problem for her. We shall see!

Later: Hmmm. Maybe I have had a loss of sense of humour, but..... We landed spot on time and taxied in through snowy runways. Having ordered a wheelchair we went through arrival like a dose of salts and were out into the arms of the Scenic rep in no time. Wheeled out to the waiting bus, we then sat and sat and sat. One of the party did not get their luggage. Guess who? Why John and Carole of course. Not their fault of course, but it was almost two hours after landing that we got going.

There was surprisingly little traffic as we bowled along with a very poor and limited commentary from our escort from Scenic. While we drove in she called the hotel to see if she could negotiate an early check-in (normal being 3.00 pm). We felt, as did others, that this should have been part of the package. Who wants to wait for six hours in winter for a room after travelling for 20 hours plus? She got confirmation from the hotel that they had rooms to spare and announced it as a triumph.

We checked in at the Westin, described as a luxury hotel, and it is that at ground floor, but our room is badly designed, cramped and the heating doesn't work - the engineer says it is because the ceiling is too high and has brought in a heater!! Being a luxury hotel, all prices are sky high, the worst so far being €12 per hour for WiFi, although coffee at €10 is not much better. The rack rate for this pigeon hole is an incredible €750 per night. Thank, goodness we are not paying that.

The plus is that Rab's foot is doing well. She managed to get her boot on and we went for a short walk in the Jardin des Tuilieries. It was very pretty with the bare trees and snow all around. We had a coffee and then strolled back to look for some-where to have lunch. There were quite a lot of people in the park and surprisingly enough a small merry-go-round or carousel, which wasn't doing much business - it seemed unlikely that the Ferris wheel in the background was doing much either.

We each had a nice croque for lunch and got chatting to a pleasant American couple - he being a serving member in the US Army. We strolled back to the hotel as we didn't want to do too much walking at this stage. I had a bit of a snooze, but it hasn't improved my humor! So far Scenic haven't scored any points with me:-(

Snowtime in Paris: Sunday December 19, 2010

Well, Scenic gained no more points at last night's 'cocktail party' held in the Winter Garden a sort of greenhouse off the central atrium of the hotel - quite nippy in there too. Beer, wine and soft drinks don't really constitute a cocktail party in my book, but that was OK especially as it started to snow, which was great, and quite wonderful for a couple of women from Ballina who had never seen snow before.

But then Natalie, our guide started to try to explain what was going to happen over the next couple of days, at the end of which we were more confused than when we started. Kerri-Anne Kennelly (known as KAK - which is no problem in Australia - she has a morning show on TV) and husband John did turn up, so Rab lost that bet. She seems very pleasant and down to earth - but then she would, wouldn't she? After one hour of the cocktail party we privileged few who had booked on the KAK tour had another hour with her and two drinks each. By the time we got back to our room it was heading for 20.30 and I didn't want to do anything but sleep. I went out for the count and woke feeling much better at 6.00.

Breakfast was good - some wonderful cheeses and cold meat and we're now refreshed and ready for whatever Natalie has in store for us. It was gently snowing at breakfast but looked as if it might turn to sleet.

Later: All is forgiven for the moment, since we had such a great day today. Mind you the greatness was more to do with the weather than Scenic! It snowed on and off all day, laying down layer on layer of the white stuff. We left on our city bus tour at about 8.30 after the usual messing about in trying to find the missing people. Turns out that one couple hasn't turned up yet, like John and Carol's clothes, due to snow related disruptions. Apparently it was -17C in Prague yesterday and there was a lot of snow everywhere.

The tour lasted until about 12.30 and although some of the activities were curtailed because the facilities e.g. Luxembourg Gardens and Eiffel Tower were closed because of the weather, we were able to see Notre Dame and get some good snowy pics. A good effort on Scenic's part and even the commentary wasn't too bad. We really are so lucky to see this beautiful city enhanced with the snowy mantle it is wearing right now.

After we got back, we put a bit more warm gear on (because it had got really cold during the morning) and headed down to the Christmas Markets on the Champs d'Elysee. Rab said her foot was doing OK and was prepared to give it a go. As we left the hotel, the sun came out for about fifteen minutes and enhanced the already beautiful vistas. We had a great time wandering around looking at the stalls and grabbing a bite to eat: roast chestnuts, a very tasty grilled sausage or three!, washed down with what was sold to me as a cappuccino and a hot chocolate for Rab with two complementary churros. The coffee was most peculiar because atop the froth a great mound of cream was swirled, which made drinking very difficult since the cardboard cup was filled to the brim. Rab also found the hot chocolate a bit rich - she said it tasted like melted chocolate.

The snow turned to sleet and rain for a short while with a VERY biting cold wind, but that didn't last long. One small problem was that Rab stepped into a deep puddle at one of the crossings and her boot got wet. Not serious; more of a nuisance. She's snoozing now, ahead of tonight's dinner. It is meant to be at the Eiffel Tower, but that may be closed. We haven't been told what Plan B is. We shall see.

Tower of Light, Paris: Sunday December 19, 2010

Of course it was Lily holding up the bus. Announcing in her frightfully loud voice that 'teacher' had chastised her she made no apologies to those of us she had kept waiting. In her inimitable way she then announced to her travelling companion - an unattached niece perhaps, or a cousin - that since she had an intense fear of heights she would not be ascending to the second stage of the Eiffel Tower but would go no further than the first stage, where we were to have dinner. (Her name wasn’t Lily, it was Kate and she was an attention seeker all right. Her companion was a lovely women by the name of Shirley. Both landed up in hospital in different German towns, courtesy of Ambulance Archie.)

As we turned into the Place de la Concorde, we were astonished to see that there was no sign of the snow and slush we had trudged through two hours earlier. The roads and sidewalks so clean they looked as if they had been swept. And the air was crystal clear; that clarity that comes in winter when the snow or rain stop leaving the icy air like a newly cleaned window.

Crowds snaked around in a pythonlike conga line at the tower. Lord knows how long they would have to stand in the freezing night air before they would get into a lift. We pre-booked Groupies by-passed them but still took half an hour before we stepped out onto the viewing platform. What a sight. The clear night air allowed us to see for miles. Church spires rose above their surrounding buildings, shining in their spotlights, the Ferris wheel at Concorde spun and sparkled, bateaux mouches idled down the Seine, brightly lit.

It was surprisingly warm up there as we moved around to see the Trocadero and views from that side. Another few steps brought us into the wind and we scuttled back to the lee side of the structure, joining the long line to get back to stage one for our dinner. Our table overlooked the Trocadero again and gave us a splendid view of the river. Food was excellent: thick cut of salmon, followed by a very tasty breast of chicken and an excellent but very rich chocolate pudding. All washed down by a smooth Bordeaux - one bottle between three being the ration.

Out into the howling gale again, we had to queue to get on the down lift. As we stood in the small vestibule for the lift, the gale lifted a notch or three and we wondered if we might have to walk down. Not something of universal appeal. We finally made it.

Back on the bus Natalie counted heads and yet again came up short. Back she went into the cold night air to find the missing bodies; to no avail. Turned out they had caught a taxi home at the beginning of the evening rather than bother to see the view.

Everyone settled down for the short trip home, no doubt dreaming of their beds as they slumbered in their coach seats. But it was not to be! Acting on her own initiative, with no democratic consultation, Natalie had us driven around for 45 minutes until the hour struck and we could see the Tower sparkle and shine in a five minute program set up for the Millennium. It was beautiful, no doubt of that, but I believe a vote would have had us back in bed well before then.

Shopping Day Paris: Monday December 20, 2010

There was nothing organized today, so we had a lateish breakfast and then headed for Galaries Lafayette. Rab was talking about looking for new boots because a bit of water got into one boot yesterday although that was really because she had stepped into a deep puddle. Anyhow we went along there - caught a taxi - and met the chaos of Xmas shopping. Monster crowds everywhere and an overheated store. Not my idea of fun. Rab got very frustrated because there are so many different 'stallholders' so you have to go to each one to see what they've got in stock. No purchase was made. We then moved on to the Hommes Department to see if they had a belt for me. I said to Rab there was no chance of me buying one at Parisian fashion prices and sure enough we didn't. €139 was more than I'd pay! But we did finally get a Fahrenheit after shave in a spray bottle - and that is the sum total of our expenditure for purchases in gay Paree.

We headed back to the hotel on foot because I wanted to see if I could get a 3G Sim card for my iPad. No dice at Orange and although we found an Apple shop they couldn't help either. So we called it a day and caught another cab back to the hotel. Rab, for some reason I could not ascertain decided to have a drink and a snack in the hotel bar. Piss poor croque monsieur for me served with cold chips and some wilted lettuce and a cool tasteless coffee. Rab had onion soup and it cost in all almost $100!

We spent the afternoon snoozing, reading and (in Rab's case) watching TV. Her foot was much better but we thought it would be good to rest it.

In the early evening we drifted off to the cafe we had eaten at the day we arrived Rivoli Park and had an excellent black pepper steak and a couple of drinks for a little over half what the rip off merchants charge at the Westin. Packed and ready for the off we were early to bed.