Christmas Markets trip, 12 December

Today has been all driving; we were able to empty our grey water tank at our overnight stop, but the water was locked out of use.  I'm sure they would have opened it for us had we asked, but they were both out when we left. 

We stopped in Chalons-en-Champagne for diesel, and tried to stop at another services for lunch and motorhome services, but couldn't find the place.  And the next stop, we couldn't see the entrance to the car park, and where we did park turned out to be lorries only and a rather officious person tried to move us on.  We ate rather fast!

We finally found services at Toul, near Nancy - the Swan Whisperer had been harping on about them all day, so I kept referring to "Your tool", which made us laugh.

And then I went to sleep, and when I woke up we were on the outskirts of Strasbourg, in the rush hour.  Oh well.  We are now in Kehl, and are hoping that the trams are running to Strasbourg tomorrow (there are strikes in France and I am not sure what the state of play is) as we want to visit the Christmas markets. 

The wine went really well with the choucroute we have just eaten!

Christmas Markets trip, 11 December 2019

It is December and thus time for what has become our annual trip to the Christmas markets, and, because we enjoyed it so much last year, we have decided to go to Strasbourg again. 

We couldn't set off before 10:30 last night, as the Swan Whisperer had a meeting, so we booked on the 01:26 crossing, as we have done in the past.  The M20 was closed not once but twice, and we had to divert via lesser roads.  Fortunately the diversions were all well-signposted, so we didn't get lost, nor even badly delayed, and we were brought back to the motorway on the second one using the new junction they have been building at Ashford.  

We didn't have long to wait for our crossing, and it was uneventful, but when we got to the Cité de l'Europe, we found that they have stopped overnight parking there.  A quick check on Campercontact showed that increasingly during November people were being plagued by would-be migrants trying to hide in their motorhome, and then from 30 November the comments all warned that overnight parking had been stopped.  I suppose it is for the best, but at 03:00, not what you want to find out!

We had seen another motorhome parked up in Lidl's car park (but how long before they put a stop to that?) so went and joined them for what was left of the night. 

By the time we were up and dressed it was 10:30 past, so we didn't have a proper breakfast, just a croissant (from Lidl) and coffee, and then we drove back up to the car park so I could do a shop in Carrefour.  I do love French supermarkets at Christmas, they are full of foie gras and smoked salmon, and wonderful collections of dried fruits in hampers and so on.  However, that sort of shopping can wait until we are on the homeward track, so I just bought a few groceries, and wanted a slightly bigger small handbag (I have a perfectly good large bag but it gets heavy !  Anyway, I found one I liked (the shop had some lovely Desigual ones, but I didn't like the clasp, which felt awkward to use) and bought it. 

And then we set off for a long, long drive across northern France.  Chaméry, where we have stayed several times before, is about half way, but since we have been there so often, and since the availability of services is always  a bit of an issue in the winter, I did a bit of research and found this rather lovely place which is a champagne growers with a dedicated, all-year-round aire.  The owners are out at the moment, but I expect they will offer us a tasting if and when they come in.  And there are services. Tomorrow we head to Strasbourg and Kehl for two nights.  

Kingston Christmas Markets

The Swan Whisperer noticed, earlier in the week, that he was no longer taking one day a week to go for a long walk, or anything similar.  Meanwhile, I ordered something off the Amazon Treasure Truck, and the easiest place for me to pick this up is at Clapham Junction Station.  And a conversation with a Facebook friend reminded me of this article I'd read on Londonist.  So I suggested we took ourselves to the Christmas market in Kingston-upon-Thames. 

At first we weren't quite sure whether we could get there because of the strike on South West Trains, or whatever they call themselves these days (I am VERY not pleased with them, not about the strike, but because I bought my train tickets off their website and now they are making a fuss about refunding them - had I bought them on Southern, I would have had the refund within minutes of knowing the event I'd been going to wasn't happening.  Very unimpressed, and will not be using their site again).  Anyway, keeping an eye on live departures, etc, soon reassured us that trains were running quite happily, and as it was within the limits of our Freedom Pass, we set off at about 14:30 (Christmas markets are always better in the dark!), and arrived at twilight.

The market wasn't as wonderful as the Londonist article makes it sound.  It was in two parts - the Alpine Village in the churchyard,

and then another area in what I think is called the Ancient Market.  The latter was bigger, and a great many food stalls - the big problem about visiting at that time of day is that it isn't a mealtime! We pottered around and bought one or two stocking-fillers, and looked for some others, and then, because neither of us had been in Kingston before, we went to see the Coronation Stone.  This was oddly impressive, I thought. 

From there, it was only a few steps to a bus stop from where we could catch a bus to the very impressive Modernist Surbiton station, and a train back to Clapham Junction came a very few minutes later.

On balance, although the market was nothing like as impressive as the one in Strasbourg we hope to visit next week, it was fun, and a pleasant afternoon out.  And we treated ourselves to a ready-meal from M&S as a reward for not having succumbed to the lure of bratwurst and gluehwein!

RAF Hendon, revisited

I was meeting my friend MrsRev for lunch today, and suggested the RAF Museum at Hendon as being the sort of place we both like, and quite near where she needed to be before and after.  We spent most of the time in the restaurant putting the world to rights and catching up with each other's gossip.  I had the salad plate again, but although I ordered a small plate, it was far too much and I was nowhere near finishing it.  With hindsight, I'd have done better with a jacket potato with beans.... ah well. 

Anyway, after MrsRev had gone, I went round to the hangars that I hadn't been able to see last time when I had Boy 2 in tow.  I was glad I did - loads of 2nd World War planes, Spitfires and Hurricanes and so on, and you got the feeling of the size of them. 

There were a lot more than that, but those were the only decent photos I took!  There was also a film about the Battle of Britain - Germany would probably have won if they hadn't kept changing their minds about what to target - first, the radar network.  This could have been disastrous, but then they decided to go after the various RAF airfields instead - and then a bomb fell on Berlin which destroyed a garden shed and injured two people, and Hitler was furious so unleashed the Blitz in all its fury.  But that gave the RAF time to breathe and recoup, and so the Battle of Britain was finally won and there was no invasion.

Then there was another film about the Dam Busters, which I rather wanted to see as we had seen the dams just a couple of months ago.   Unfortunately, I fell asleep during it, and didn't quite like to put it on again when it had finished, as there was someone else there!  Oh well.

Then I came away, and found out the hard way that if you want to change at Euston, you need to be on the Bank branch of the Northern Line, which is a cross-platform change.  It's not miles if you're on the Charing Cross branch, which I was, but it's not cross-platform!  But I would have had to have waited for several trains at Colindale before there was a Bank branch one, so swings and roundabouts....

Pompeii, revisited

A family funeral in Oxford earlier in the week.  My cousin told me that there was an exhibition at the Ashmolean entitled "Last Supper in Pompeii", and, considering we had just been there, we should certainly go and see it; she recommended it.

So, as there was a little time, we decided to visit it. I'm so glad we did; the exhibition showed us a lot of finds from Pompeii, which we could visualise "in situ" as it were.  It was mainly concerned with eating and drinking, both in Pompeii itself and, contemporaneously in Roman Britain.  There were lots of cooking and serving vessels.

A figurine of a piglet, that may have been offered to the gods instead of the real thing (though I would have thought the real thing would have been cheaper, but what do I know?)

and even a Roman muffin tin:

and carving-knife:

There are plenty more photos on the website, so do have a look - or, better still, go and visit the exhibition if you are anywhere in the Oxford area.  It is on until January.

October holiday, 1 November

Cité de l'Europe

Today, being All Saints' Day, is a public holiday through much of Europe. So, in true Bank Holiday spirit, it rained all day!

We drove to the Strépy-Thieux boat lift, but sadly I was too asleep to really be aware of it. Then we stopped for lunch at a services - just a sandwich, but very nice.

Then we were stopped by French Customs - I don't know whether they were unaware that Brexit hadn't happened, or what - but they  kept asking where we had been, and why, and what we did for a living, and what was the retirement age in the UK, etc, while one of them with his dirty great feet peered all round the motor home and looked into all our cupboards and so on. Not nice, and I feel violated. This van is as much my home as my flat is, and I don't want customs officials all over the flat, either!

Haven't taken any photos today, so here is one from a happier border crossing! 

October holiday, 31 October

Blégny-Mine, Belgium.

If you count Vatican City and San Marino as separate countries, which we most definitely do, this is the 7th new country this holiday!

The day started with the Swan Whisperer going for a run. It was a bitterly cold morning, and we were glad I had a pair of knitted gloves with me that he could borrow. After breakfast I went for a walk down to the Rhine,

rather glad I'd tucked a woolly hat into my bag. How many holidays do you need both a sunhat and a woolly hat?

It was a simply glorious morning for a walk, though. I was interested to read the plaques about Lord Byron - apparently the romantic poetry he wrote after visiting the area made Rhine tourism a thing and they pulled down the city walls and built hotels instead!

Sadly the local folk museum was only open in the afternoons, or I'd have visited it.

I wanted to do a Last Shop in Germany, as tomorrow is All Saints Day so the shops will be shut everywhere. Its just possible the Carrefour at Cité Europe will be open, but I'm not relying on it.

So we drove down to Niederdollendorf, the next commune along, and I went to Kik (knitting cotton), ReWe (groceries) and DM (drugstore) in that order.

By then it was lunch time, so we crossed the Rhine on the nearest ferry and then stopped for lunch before driving to Blégny for the penultimate night of the holiday.