We Are Alive!
Belated greetings from the South of France! Sorry it’s taken us so long to post (not due to inebriated states, we can assure you) but it’s been a rather busy week…
Venice was lovely, with gorgeous weather, so three days on the beach left the Lemprieres nicely tanned and H a darker shade of pink. There were a few cloudy days, which were spent wandering the streets of the Lido/Venice and checking/rechecking the weather forecast for the next day. Went to the chilled-out bar by the lagoon (inbetween the Lido and Venice) again, which hosted the hilarious party with the Lady in Red – was very chilled out this time, with relaxing music as we drank our cocktails. We tried a new one, called ‘Blue Hawaiian’ which was a mix of Rum, Blue Curacao, coconut cream and pineapple juice… mmm. Gets one rather tipsy though, as P & H discovered. P also made friends with the resident DJ, who played ‘Over the Rainbow’ by Israel Kowabangabanga (or whatever his name is) for us every time we arrived, and again before we left.
We said fond farewells to Mina and Philip on Monday, as they travelled home to the (not so lovely) weather in England (which we hope is not quite so soggy now?) and we continued onwards and westwards to Imperia, on the north coast of Italy. The scenery along the route between Milan and Imperia was stunning, as the train track runs along the coast, all the way to Nice in France. It’s all a bit ‘Cornish’, with jagged rocks and impressive cliffs leading to the sea, and long tunnels passing through the cliffs between secluded coves.
Imperia itself is a fantastic port town, perched on a hill above the sea, with roads winding around the edge of the coast – we made our way to the B&B, unsure of what we may find (as we’d only booked it the day before), and after a 15 minute walk uphill and climbing up the steepest steps known to mankind, we reached the building, which looks out over the Mediterranean. Our room was unbelievable – a solarium by day and sleeping quarters by night, we had a 360° view of the surroundings, and looked down 100m to the sea directly below. The downsides (having to walk downstairs to the bathroom/no curtains) were bearable, compensated by the breathtaking view of sunrise/sunset! It was all very bohemian, with candles on the stairs and in the room, and had a panoramic view of the sky (which wasn’t affected by light pollution), and even saw a shooting star.
The day after we arrived, we went to see the whales. The boat, which holds up to 200 people, left the port at midday, so we hurriedly bought some rather fetching cowboy hats and lots of water and boarded. It took about 3 hours to reach the ‘hotspot’ and the boat began to slow to a meandering pace, and we all jostled to the side to get a view of the water (fighting with snotty Germans to get our towels in first). Every wave looked like a potential big fish, so we watched and watched and watched… after 30 minutes of watching, we began to tire slightly, as watching potential fishy-waves is quite tiring.
Suddenly an excited voice came over the tannoy – “A whale, we have seen a whale” – so cue more jostling and elbowing to get a good look and something in the distance came into view. It was white, and gently bobbing on the waves. As we got closer, it started to look less and less like a whale (as it was rather flat and pale) and more like a surfboard pretending to be a whale. It was indeed a surfboard pretending to be a whale, and it floated, quite ‘unwhalelike’, past the boat.
Our excitement faded and we all took our seats again, waiting for the next whale disguised as a surfboard, or indeed maybe dolphins disguised as an armada of yellow ducks. At this point, A began to feel decidedly queasy, due to the slow rocking of the boat and visited the toilets (which were Disgusting, with a capital D). Predictably, as soon as she left the deck, a school (? Group?) of dolphins appeared. She made it back in time to see them jumping over the waves – a truly amazing sight. We were informed that they were a group of female Striped dolphins, escorting a ‘piccollo’, or baby. They swam through the water, under the boat, jumping into the air in twos… The rocking of the boat was made worse by the hundreds of people running back and forth between the sides - the dolphins were playing with us, and followed the boat for a few miles before we sped off to find another group.
We caught up with more and they began to circle us, kindly passing by both sides of the boat to enable us all to take photos, even swimming in front, leading the boat onwards. Unfortunately, we haven’t got many photos as it was quite tricky catching them on film (they were pretty speedy), so by the time the shutter was pressed, all we had was a picture of bubbles. But we did capture a fin, which was rather exciting.
Just as we turned to make the journey back to shore, A felt her queasiest (but luckily had seen all the dolphins) so we spent the rest of the homeward journey at the back of the boat, watching land approach (and which had convenient ashtrays for H..). She felt better when the boat’s pace quickened, so by the time we reached Imperia, we were both A-OK. Disappointed not to see any whales, but at least we saw the whale disguised as a surfboard – it more than made up for it. A great experience, which we both thoroughly enjoyed, and the sickness was nothing in comparison to seeing dolphins in the wild.
Saying goodbye to Imperia (which we hope to visit again), we caught the train yesterday to Narbonne (at the stupid time of 8am, but which enabled us to have breakfast at sunrise). Had an awful journey to Nice (our first change), having to walk through 4 carriages of packed corridors (it was a compartment train), and people sitting on fold-down perches, so having to lift our not-very-light backpacks over their heads when they refused to move. Passed through Monaco station, which was incredibly posh – holiday there next year?
The woman who sold us our reservations had informed us that when we arrived at Nice Ville (the main train station), we would have to make our way to Nice Riquier (a smaller station on the same line), so we dutifully caught a train to take us the 3 minutes up the line to Riquier. Bought some lunch, ate it at 11am (as we were hungry) and caught the train to Marseilles. Realised, while on the train, that the station we were pulling into was rather familiar, being in fact Nice Ville, the station we had left not 15 minutes before. Silly train woman.
Saw more gorgeous scenery, passed through Cannes, which was also incredibly posh with many expensive yachts in the harbour (one of which we will buy next year and travel to Cannes and Monaco) and began to get used to the French language (after having been Italians for the last 22 days). From Marseilles, we boarded the train to Narbonne, and found that our carriage’s electrics were up the spout (so no electronic seat numbers and, crucially, no air conditioning) so were told to find other seats on the train. Ended up in a disabled/family carriage which was nearly empty, so had a lovely, spacious, relaxing journey to Narbonne.
Arrived to a welcoming party of Uxxxx Mxxxxxx and Pierre, who took us back to the house in Argeliers (about 30 minutes from Narbonne) where we met Jeannine (Uncle Maxwell’s wife – Mina’s brother – for those who don’t know who Mina is, A’s mother and Philip’s wife and mother of Lydia and Zegna also, Zegna who has two sons called Samuel and Leo and a husband called Christian – so now you know the Lemprieres/Renwicks/Bruces) Anzwaz, back to the story, we had a wonderful meal of barbecued lamb with potatoes and beans, and lashings of (many,many) different types of wine – so we slept very soundly.
Today, we all visited the fortified town of Carcassonne, which is the largest fortress in Europe – it’s very medieval, with lots of tiny streets selling souvenirs and gifts, and holds a castle (Chateau Comtal) and the Basilica of SS Nazarius and Celsus, a gothic church with a 1522 organ, which was playing atmospherically when we entered.
Walking around the ramparts, it provides a majestic view of the ‘new city’ and surroundings. It was incredibly busy, with hundreds of tourists packing the small alleyways, but a lovely atmosphere, and a great day out.
On the journey to the citadel, we stopped on a (pretty nondescript looking) road in the middle of nowhere, pointing uphill, and all got out of the car. Maxwell then proceeded to put a plastic water bottle on the ground, which then ‘rolled uphill’. It’s a local curiosity, a ‘trompe d’oeil’, where the road seems to go uphill but actually slopes downwards. Pretty eerie, especially when walking along, seemingly uphill, you close your eyes and feels like you’re going down. Interesting!
So now the hands are hurting and supper is being served so we must go – hope you’re all having a lovely time over there in England (where we will be in less than a fortnight!), and we promise we will blog again reeeal soon!!
Lots of love to all of you
A(M)&H+M,J&Pxxxxx
Venice was lovely, with gorgeous weather, so three days on the beach left the Lemprieres nicely tanned and H a darker shade of pink. There were a few cloudy days, which were spent wandering the streets of the Lido/Venice and checking/rechecking the weather forecast for the next day. Went to the chilled-out bar by the lagoon (inbetween the Lido and Venice) again, which hosted the hilarious party with the Lady in Red – was very chilled out this time, with relaxing music as we drank our cocktails. We tried a new one, called ‘Blue Hawaiian’ which was a mix of Rum, Blue Curacao, coconut cream and pineapple juice… mmm. Gets one rather tipsy though, as P & H discovered. P also made friends with the resident DJ, who played ‘Over the Rainbow’ by Israel Kowabangabanga (or whatever his name is) for us every time we arrived, and again before we left.
We said fond farewells to Mina and Philip on Monday, as they travelled home to the (not so lovely) weather in England (which we hope is not quite so soggy now?) and we continued onwards and westwards to Imperia, on the north coast of Italy. The scenery along the route between Milan and Imperia was stunning, as the train track runs along the coast, all the way to Nice in France. It’s all a bit ‘Cornish’, with jagged rocks and impressive cliffs leading to the sea, and long tunnels passing through the cliffs between secluded coves.
Imperia itself is a fantastic port town, perched on a hill above the sea, with roads winding around the edge of the coast – we made our way to the B&B, unsure of what we may find (as we’d only booked it the day before), and after a 15 minute walk uphill and climbing up the steepest steps known to mankind, we reached the building, which looks out over the Mediterranean. Our room was unbelievable – a solarium by day and sleeping quarters by night, we had a 360° view of the surroundings, and looked down 100m to the sea directly below. The downsides (having to walk downstairs to the bathroom/no curtains) were bearable, compensated by the breathtaking view of sunrise/sunset! It was all very bohemian, with candles on the stairs and in the room, and had a panoramic view of the sky (which wasn’t affected by light pollution), and even saw a shooting star.
The day after we arrived, we went to see the whales. The boat, which holds up to 200 people, left the port at midday, so we hurriedly bought some rather fetching cowboy hats and lots of water and boarded. It took about 3 hours to reach the ‘hotspot’ and the boat began to slow to a meandering pace, and we all jostled to the side to get a view of the water (fighting with snotty Germans to get our towels in first). Every wave looked like a potential big fish, so we watched and watched and watched… after 30 minutes of watching, we began to tire slightly, as watching potential fishy-waves is quite tiring.
Suddenly an excited voice came over the tannoy – “A whale, we have seen a whale” – so cue more jostling and elbowing to get a good look and something in the distance came into view. It was white, and gently bobbing on the waves. As we got closer, it started to look less and less like a whale (as it was rather flat and pale) and more like a surfboard pretending to be a whale. It was indeed a surfboard pretending to be a whale, and it floated, quite ‘unwhalelike’, past the boat.
Our excitement faded and we all took our seats again, waiting for the next whale disguised as a surfboard, or indeed maybe dolphins disguised as an armada of yellow ducks. At this point, A began to feel decidedly queasy, due to the slow rocking of the boat and visited the toilets (which were Disgusting, with a capital D). Predictably, as soon as she left the deck, a school (? Group?) of dolphins appeared. She made it back in time to see them jumping over the waves – a truly amazing sight. We were informed that they were a group of female Striped dolphins, escorting a ‘piccollo’, or baby. They swam through the water, under the boat, jumping into the air in twos… The rocking of the boat was made worse by the hundreds of people running back and forth between the sides - the dolphins were playing with us, and followed the boat for a few miles before we sped off to find another group.
We caught up with more and they began to circle us, kindly passing by both sides of the boat to enable us all to take photos, even swimming in front, leading the boat onwards. Unfortunately, we haven’t got many photos as it was quite tricky catching them on film (they were pretty speedy), so by the time the shutter was pressed, all we had was a picture of bubbles. But we did capture a fin, which was rather exciting.
Just as we turned to make the journey back to shore, A felt her queasiest (but luckily had seen all the dolphins) so we spent the rest of the homeward journey at the back of the boat, watching land approach (and which had convenient ashtrays for H..). She felt better when the boat’s pace quickened, so by the time we reached Imperia, we were both A-OK. Disappointed not to see any whales, but at least we saw the whale disguised as a surfboard – it more than made up for it. A great experience, which we both thoroughly enjoyed, and the sickness was nothing in comparison to seeing dolphins in the wild.
Saying goodbye to Imperia (which we hope to visit again), we caught the train yesterday to Narbonne (at the stupid time of 8am, but which enabled us to have breakfast at sunrise). Had an awful journey to Nice (our first change), having to walk through 4 carriages of packed corridors (it was a compartment train), and people sitting on fold-down perches, so having to lift our not-very-light backpacks over their heads when they refused to move. Passed through Monaco station, which was incredibly posh – holiday there next year?
The woman who sold us our reservations had informed us that when we arrived at Nice Ville (the main train station), we would have to make our way to Nice Riquier (a smaller station on the same line), so we dutifully caught a train to take us the 3 minutes up the line to Riquier. Bought some lunch, ate it at 11am (as we were hungry) and caught the train to Marseilles. Realised, while on the train, that the station we were pulling into was rather familiar, being in fact Nice Ville, the station we had left not 15 minutes before. Silly train woman.
Saw more gorgeous scenery, passed through Cannes, which was also incredibly posh with many expensive yachts in the harbour (one of which we will buy next year and travel to Cannes and Monaco) and began to get used to the French language (after having been Italians for the last 22 days). From Marseilles, we boarded the train to Narbonne, and found that our carriage’s electrics were up the spout (so no electronic seat numbers and, crucially, no air conditioning) so were told to find other seats on the train. Ended up in a disabled/family carriage which was nearly empty, so had a lovely, spacious, relaxing journey to Narbonne.
Arrived to a welcoming party of Uxxxx Mxxxxxx and Pierre, who took us back to the house in Argeliers (about 30 minutes from Narbonne) where we met Jeannine (Uncle Maxwell’s wife – Mina’s brother – for those who don’t know who Mina is, A’s mother and Philip’s wife and mother of Lydia and Zegna also, Zegna who has two sons called Samuel and Leo and a husband called Christian – so now you know the Lemprieres/Renwicks/Bruces) Anzwaz, back to the story, we had a wonderful meal of barbecued lamb with potatoes and beans, and lashings of (many,many) different types of wine – so we slept very soundly.
Today, we all visited the fortified town of Carcassonne, which is the largest fortress in Europe – it’s very medieval, with lots of tiny streets selling souvenirs and gifts, and holds a castle (Chateau Comtal) and the Basilica of SS Nazarius and Celsus, a gothic church with a 1522 organ, which was playing atmospherically when we entered.
Walking around the ramparts, it provides a majestic view of the ‘new city’ and surroundings. It was incredibly busy, with hundreds of tourists packing the small alleyways, but a lovely atmosphere, and a great day out.
On the journey to the citadel, we stopped on a (pretty nondescript looking) road in the middle of nowhere, pointing uphill, and all got out of the car. Maxwell then proceeded to put a plastic water bottle on the ground, which then ‘rolled uphill’. It’s a local curiosity, a ‘trompe d’oeil’, where the road seems to go uphill but actually slopes downwards. Pretty eerie, especially when walking along, seemingly uphill, you close your eyes and feels like you’re going down. Interesting!
So now the hands are hurting and supper is being served so we must go – hope you’re all having a lovely time over there in England (where we will be in less than a fortnight!), and we promise we will blog again reeeal soon!!
Lots of love to all of you
A(M)&H+M,J&Pxxxxx
posted by the travellers at 9:15 pm
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