Professor Sharon

Professor Sharon header image 1

England

May 30th, 2008 · eating, Itinerary, Learning Spanish, Sabbatical trip, Site Seeing, Uncategorized

We had a great train ride through the Chunnel from Paris to London. It’s actually a rather “boring” ride in terms of the scenery (and at least 1/2 hour is spent in the tunnel). We enjoyed first class and were served a nice luncheon type meal while enjoying cozy seats. I was worried about my ears – especially as one of them is full of fluid still from the bad cold I had over a month ago in Spain. But they did okay – I could feel the pressure change in the tunnel, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. (Looks like I’ll be seeing my ear specialist when I get back to the States.)

We went into one station and had to catch a taxi to another to catch another train to Winchester. (Yesterday we returned to London). We met this couple in Salamanca in school and really hit it off. They are delightful folks and gave us a few days of wonderful hospitality!

The first day they took us to tour Winchester College –

london5.jpg a very old what we would call high school: over 625 years! For you fans of a certain wizard book — does the dining room remind you of anything?

We then went to tour WInchester Cathedral london2.jpg(yes, the one of the old 60’s song!).

london1.jpg

This is a scuplture by Gormley in the cript of the cathedral — really one of the most stunning sights we’ve seen this trip. This photo does not do it justice at all.

We had tapas at a new local restaurant. london3.jpgHere we are!

They took us to a town nearby to enjoy an open air sculpture garden as well. We spent the next day touring the Cathedral again, seeing a few things that were closed the next.

Yesterday, they had arranged to come into London and join us and another couple of friends of theirs for an evening at the theatre. We went to see “Como Aqua para Chocolate” in Spanish! Nice way to begin to wind down our trip, huh?!! It was a small theatre in a tunnel under either a bridge or the subway, I wasn’t sure. It seated about 100 on benches. It was a great play!

For a couple of days, we’ll tool about London and before you know it be on our way home on the Queen Mary II – really hard to grasp actually!

Comments Off on EnglandTags:

Paris, still

May 26th, 2008 · Itinerary, Sabbatical trip, Site Seeing, travel

We are currently sitting in the Gare du Nord train station waiting for our train to London in a hour or so. There’s a nice lounge for first class travelers (which we’re doing for comfort and the meal!) with connection.

So here’s just a few pictures from our few days in Paris. From London, this afternoon, we take another train to Winchester where we will spend a couple of nights with a couple that we made friends with in Spanish school in Salamanca. (Maybe we’ll remember a few of our already lost vocabulary.)

paris1.jpg

Of course, one must take a picture of the tower while in Paris. We understand there’s a light show every evening; but we skipped as the crowds of tourists here are really huge and we just couldn’t do it! So we sat in a nice cafe eating long slow dinners instead!

paris2.jpg

We did go to the La Orangerie (I’m sure that’s misspelled) since it was reconstructed since we visited ten years ago. They built two new rooms for the panels by Monet with natural lighting. The natural lighting is beautiful, but we thought the rooms were too sterile. The old worn-out rooms had warm wood tones from the floor that we thought looked better against the paintings. Thought, of course, the paintings are breath-taking.

paris3.jpg

The famous – or, in our case, – infamous, Pompidou Center. It was closed for renovations ten years ago when we were here. We went two days in a row, and it was closed. On Thursday, there was a general strike of transportation, which they joined. On Friday, we went again, and the workers had decided to go on a five day strike – oh well — won’t see it again!

paris5.jpg

And, a picture I wanted to put up last week and didn’t get a chance to: hubby enjoying Burgundy wine and escargot while dining in a cafe in Burgundy! I did try a half of one — delicious!

paris4.jpg

And, this is for Avi-do! The name is not quite spelled correctly; but here is someone you would like to see (on the Hotel de Ville in Paris). It made Poppi and I think of you — we’ll see you soon!

Comments Off on Paris, stillTags:

Paris

May 25th, 2008 · Sabbatical trip, Uncategorized

We had a great first day in Paris. It was part of the river cruise tour so we spent the afternoon and evening with people from that cruise.

We went on the organized tour of Versailles. We had not been there before as about 10 years ago when we came to Paris, there had been some kind of storm that damaged the park and part of it was closed; and they were renovating some of the interior and we were told that many of the treasures were on tour.

It was packed with people and we were glad to be on a tour for this one. We didn’t see too much less than others on their own did as they send you through pretty quickly. We would have liked more than an hour for the gardens as they are HUGE and beautiful.

It’s quite the statement in decadence to say the least. And, makes us curious to know more of the history than we know — but that’s been almost everything we’ve done this trip!

Last night we went to the Moulin Rouge – again with the organized tour. And good thing as well in this case — the line went around the corner. We also benefited by getting to sit in the second tier of tables – quite good seats for show watching. Most folks react to it as a tourist trap and i suppose it is. But it is also over 100 years old, and we wanted to say we had been there. We danced to the band that played during dinner. The show was great fun, although we thought the can-can they did was not very good. We’ve seen it on old films and documentaries and the updated version is not the way to go!

It’s now Sunday and we leave Paris tomorrow. We have found internet in all the public parks (in fact we are sitting in a 1st century Roman theatre with wifi!), but alas my laptop’s battery has decided its dead; so I can’t post away from a plug. At the moment I’m using hubbie’s laptop so I won’t be able to post pictures of our Paris fun until we get to London.

We go to London tomorrow via Eurostar and the Chunnel – we’re looking forward to it. Here in Paris, we’ve been to the L’Orangerie and Musee Rodin to see a special exhibit on Camille Claudette which was stunning (and we had to wait nearly 1 1/2 hours to get in). We found the cafe we went to 10 years ago and had dinner and a chocolate ancienne – delicious!

From London we are going to Winchester to stay a couple of nights with a couple that we met at language school in Spain, and then before we know it, it’ll be June 2 and we’ll be on the Queen Mary II headed home!

It’s really hard to believe the time has gone by. Our adventures have been many and wonderful. We are really enjoying ourselves and just beginning to wish for home – and really what we miss at this point is routine. We are beginning to be weary of lugging our stuff and moving about. Stay tuned for more pictures from the cruise and Paris once I find a plug to sit next to!

→ 2 CommentsTags:

River Rhone and Saone

May 20th, 2008 · eating, Itinerary, Sabbatical trip, Site Seeing, travel, Uncategorized

Goodness, that was a long stretch without posting, wasn’t it? Hope you are all checking back in!

We have just arrived in Paris from a week cruising on the river Rhone and Soane.

cruise1.jpg This is the boat when we arrived in Arles.

It was a small boat holding only about 125 people with, best we can figure it, about 25 crew. Although the company promised an “Internet Corner” and access, it really wasn’t that true! The connection was often down (we were told it was due to the satellite – hubby, knowledgeable about such things to say the least – said it was how the system was set up), and went it was up, it was (as Gramma used to say) slower than molasses! So needless to say we got nothing done online, and used what time we could get connection to get a hotel in Paris. Neither of us could use our own laptops. And we won’t talk about the charge for using it….

But we had a wonderful week. Each evening, after dinner, was a little entertainment, sometimes while we cruised, sometimes while docked. A few nights was, in all honesty, a terrible lounge piano singer! One night, however, we were surprised with a local band to the lower Provence area: the center musician is a member of the Gypsy Kings! WOnderful!! And hubbie had a dance with their dancer!cruise2.jpgrichcruise.jpg

We saw several medieval villages along the river, or even inland, as the tour had options of taking a bus for a couple of hours in the afternoon to see other villages. The boat itself was lovely: quiet, restful, food was okay, the other travelers fascinating. The boat is run by a German company, and so the food was more German in nature than French, but it was very good, and we enjoyed the fact that the servings were a nice size – not huge! This is important in cruising as there’s a lot of food!

Here’s some of the towns we experienced: Nice, Arles, Avignon, Carmargue region, Lyon, Macon, Marseille, Tournon, Vienne, Beaune, Viviers, and Oingt! These are only a few of the villages we stopped at, we saw many more from the boat.Really quite amazing….

I hardly know where to begin to share. We took almost 700 pictures (thank goodness for digital format). We tasted wines, saw flamingos, and beautiful white horses, walked in ancient castles, cathedrals, and breathed the beautiful air filled with the scent of lavender.

sharoncruise.jpg

…dancing under the bridge (remember the song?) of Avignon.

cruise6.jpg

This is a picture of the town of Viviers from castle remains on the top of the hill. We heard an organ recital in the medieval cathedral surrounded by tapestries from the 13th century.

We went through many locks and under bridges. One of the locks was the second largest in Europe! The skydeck where the bridge and lounging chairs are located were designed to be very flat for going under the bridges. For one particularly difficult bridge we were sent downstairs – the clearance was 2 centimeters! Here’s a photo of the clearance for one we were allowed to be up top for – but we had to remain sitted! That is a underside of a bridge!

cruise7.jpg

One village was more beautiful than another! Here’s a sample for you….

cruise8.jpgit was a delightful week. I’ll trip to post a few more over the next few days. We are in Paris for four days and hope to have good connection.

Comments Off on River Rhone and SaoneTags:

Nice is nice (sorry, couldn’t resist)

May 12th, 2008 · Sabbatical trip, Uncategorized

Our next to last day in Nice. Tomorrow we transfer from the current hotel we’re in a block or two away to the hotel that is the official start of our “Flavors of Burgendy & Provence” River cruise. We’re having second thoughts (and that’s all they can be!) and hoping we enjoy being with a tour group again! We have really enjoyed going at our own pace; and hope that each day is not filled to the brim with following 40 other people around and not really seeing what we’d like to see….

I don’t know when I’ll be able to post again, so keep checking in. We’re told that there is internet on the boat; but we’ve learned that here in Euope that phrase means a lot of different things!

This cruise takes us up the Rhone and we will arrive in Paris on May 21. The last day or two is in a bus. The itinerary is exciting and so we are hopeful we’ll enjoy ourselves!

We’re really enjoyed Nice. It’s a huge tourist destination – apparently it’s been so since the late 1800s when British, French and Russian royalty came here to play. The beachline is beautiful, the water exquisite, and interestingly to me – the beach sand is not so pleasant. The beach is small rocks, not sand at all. Anywhere there is sand, it was added on top of the rocks by the hotel that owns the beach front.

Here’s a few pictures of Nice. The weather is lovely so far, although we’re told it may rain tomorrow.

nice1.jpg

This is me at the top of a hill where a very old castile used to exist.

nice2.jpg

Some of the very interesting buildings here in Nice.

nice3.jpg

Old Nice from the top of the hill.

And, while I’m on, I want to put up a few pictures of Cadaques where we were a few days ago. We went on a day trip from Figueres (Spain) in order to visit Dali’s home.

cadaques1.jpg

This is Rich in the middle of Dali’s house in Port Llagt. The room is a peribolic room; when you talk in the middle it does this wierd bounce back at you.

cadaques2.jpg

The beautiful view from our hotel.cadaques3.jpg

cadaques4.jpg

Our hotel in Cadeques.

So, hopefully I’ll see you online in a day or two once we get settled on our river cruise. I look forward to being back in the states soon; but I’m still having way too much fun for it to be tomorrow!

→ 1 CommentTags: