Copenhagen again

Another very pleasant day around 20C and no wind. Sacrificed our breeze last night in the interests of sleep - amazing the impact of double glazing.

Resumed our HOHO experiences by taking trip around Chritianshavn, the old Danish military area, now home to lots of cultural, artistic and musical campuses, sports fields, community garden plots (on which the locals generally have a very small summer house) and the Christiana freewheeling alternative community. Hopped off at new Copenhagen Mall, built on site of the old fish market (absolutely best toilets yet - pristine! Most public toilets in Copenhagen cannot cope with the massive tourist numbers.

Then around further for boat to Nyhaven, which is the waterfront area most emblematic of Copenhagen, and lined on both sides with 3 to 5 story brightly painted properties dating to the 1740's. Full of restaurants and all fully patronised today. Wandered on to the Royal Danish Playhouse and then through the streets of the Stroget (Copenhagen's bunny hopping pedestrianised inner core) which is lined with shops,  shops, shops!

Final HOHO bus route, out and back to Carlsberg Brewery. We have had full value from our 48 hour ticket - all 3 bus routes, the boat route, a canal tour and a few link up rides.

Feet up for an hour before we head off to Happy Hour and then out to Tivoli Gardens for the evening. Tivoli is Copenhagen's, and the world's, grand old classic amusement park since 1843 - on 20 acres of city central land and very close to our hotel.

Saturday in Copenhagen

We are in an area full of hotels and lots of restaurants - but on the edge of Copenhagen's red light district.  Lots of noise through to daylight hours, but one of us slept through it. Very nice breakfast and then off to explore.

My plans were pretty quickly thwarted by building works on the main canal and by the fact that the Copenhagen Open Water Swim was on (full day of events, swimming around one of the CBD islands). Altered plans with a 48 hour hop on/hop off bus and boat ticket. On the boat to Nyhaven, the Little Mermaid and then to Amalienborg Palace where Fred and Mary live - they were not taking visitors, but we at the right time for the Changing of the Guard. Big crowds everywhere in a very nice 23C day of full sun. The locals love the sunshine (bikes and boats everywhere) and were out in force, bolstered by the passengers off four big cruise ships.

Then on to bus to Rosenborg Castle and its gardens, built in the early 1600's by King Christian IV as a summer residence. Walked through part of the Stroget, the main shopping area and then took boat around the canals - amazing the number of boats out on the water.  Saturday afternoon, amazing also the number of wedding attendees arriving by bike. Bikes are everywhere, big costs in having a car - and sometimes it is near impossible to get along a footpath because of the parked bikes. The locals have great bike skills - talking, texting, taking photos while in full flight is common.

Walked home via Christiansborg Palace, once the royal palace (rebuilt six times in 800 years ) and now government offices.

Happy Hour at our hotel is free so enjoyed some wine with 5 South Australians who had just arrived (3 sailing on our cruise). Dinner down the street in a very old and authentic Danish restaurant -I could not finish my schnitzel!! On the way back had to pass a Lidl store, Pat can report that Lidl is just like Aldi.

Berlin to Copenhagen - Friday 28 August

Relaxing breakfast and checkout. We loved our hotel which was well placed, and our upgrade to a fully renovated apartment was a real plus. Just an 800M stroll to main station which is on 4 levels and very new - 80 shops.

Impressions of Berlin. (These are mine because Pat found few redeeming features (other than the supermarket prices - before getting to Kurfurstendamm, which she thought better than the Champs Elysees.) Berlin:
● Does not have the style of Paris or Milan.
● It has some stunning architecture, but not as consolidated as in Paris.
● It's landscaping is not well kept, and cigarette butts abound.
● There are major infrastructure projects happening all over, including Museum Island, another new underground rail line (with another just completed) and major building projects everywhere.
● Almost all young girls and women smoke, and large numbers have tattoos.
● Make up is not a big seller.
● It does not seem to have traffic problems, probably due to its massive and efficient public transport systems.
● Much of the city area, having been east of the wall, is still catching up in terms of infrasructure and build quality.
● It seems to be brutally honest about it's Hitler led history. 
In summary, it is a city of contradictions - compare the graffiti in many places,  including the East Side Gallery, with Kurfurstendamm, where the designer shops have permanent glass showcases on the footpath, and they are untouched.

Anyway, on to Copenhagen. We headed first to Hamburg where our train split in two and our half headed to the German coast, the train drove on to the ferry and in 30 minutes we were in Denmark and then on to Copenhagen. 200M walk to the Andersen Boutique Hotel (a little more bohemian than boutique!). Very small room as is, I think, the way of Copenhagen, and such a contrast to our Berlin apartment. Immediately invited to an arty party with drinks in the foyer with the"beautiful people" of Copenhagen - expected Paul Barbera to turn up at any minute!!

Some Copenhagen street food, a quick wander, a little more party and off to bed.

No need to panic

Sleep was a prized commodity after yesterday's hard day - and it came easily until the hotel fire alarm activated at 3.02am. It was loud and continuing, so all out down the fire escape (just 3 floors for us) to the safe assembly area. Most had dressed, but some were just in pj's and bare feet (read, us). We had police and 3 fire units arrive, but knew all was ok when just two firemen went in with their invoice book just to ensure the call out fee was signed for. It was, however, an excellent effort for an unrehearsed evacuation. Finally back to bed after 3.30am.

A bit later for breakfast than planned, and then off with an all day public transport ticket, great value. First to Eastside Gallery, the biggest remaining stretch of the Wall and now "the world's longest outdoor art gallery". Almost a mile long and covered with murals by artists from around the world. While the artists re-created their works in 2009, the 20th anniversay of the fall of the Wall, the years since have seen significant defacement and graffiti-a great shame. Parts of the gallery are also being removed for driveways into new buildings.

Across town then to the grand Kurfurstendamm boulevard for shopping centres (the newest of which has a panoramic window into the baboon enclosure in the adjoining zoo). Kurfurstendamm is full of all the designer shops (plenty of waiting time for me) and is a boulevard more than a mile long and similar to St Kilda Rd, very wide with a tree lined centre plantation.

A quick bite to eat and a beer then back on the SBahn and UBanh to Hackescher Markt (the station is atop a series of classic Neo Gothic brick archways) for the afternoon market and for a lap of Museum Island which contains many of Berlin's museums. Many of the museums are undergoing renovation or rebuild with the intention of the Island becoming one of the world's premiere museum precicnts - a project extending to 2025. Some of the buildings are quite spectacular, as is the nearby Berlin Cathedral which towers over Museum Island.

Another long day of many walked km's before a quick supermarket visit for dinner supplies, an excellent dinner, and a run for the washing machine - heaven for Pat!!!

A big day in Berlin

Very pleasant breakfast in our hotel restaurant and then it was off for a long day of 11+ hours, with most on our feet.

We headed off on the UBanh to Checkpoint Charlie where East met West.Today it is just a tourist re-creation but at the real spot adjacent to what was the Berlin Wall. It has a panelled story of the Wall on its street corner. Then off to the Topography of Terror, an internal/external pictorial museum documenting the Nazi perpetrators, built on the site of the former Gestapo/SS Headquarters, with a preserved section of the Wall, and brutally honest. It would be possible to spend 4 hours at this compelling site.

Walked on to Potsdamer Platz (major intersection of around 8 roads and an area of more modern architecture) via an Opera House with clearly visible armament damage and an East Berlin watch tower. Then through to, and through, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust memorial with almost 3000 symbolic pillars) to Brandenburg Gate, one of Berlin's most famous landmarks, and at the former border of East and West.

Into Tiergarten, Berlin's huge park in front of the Gate and the parliament, and to the Memorial to the Murdered Sinti and Roma (Gypsies) of Europe. Walked a while along the Spree Riverfront before catching a riverboat tour - trap for young players, check that they have an English commentary. It was, however, an enjoyable cruise in beautiful sunshine.

Needed a bite and a beer before heading down part of Unter den Linden which is Berlin's premiere boulevard (dating to the 15th century and once the heart of the former East Berlin). At present it is rather unattractive as an underground rail extension is being built below it - a 3 station long  line linking two existing lines, and requiring the relocation of an incredibly complex array of water, gas, electricity, drainage, sewerage and telecommunications infrastructure.

I had been able to pre-arrange a guided tour of the Reichstag, the German parliament building, and this was a highlight of the day. An excellent young guide took us through a massive building complex that brings together the old and the new. A parliamentary chamber that was wrecked during the war, unoccupied from that time due to the East/West divide, as it sits adjacent to where the Wall was, and was only rebuilt 19 years back. It retains on its internal walls, the messages of Russian troops who were involved in taking Berlin at the climax of WWII, a lot of armament evidence as well as modern parliamentary chamber and a striking glass dome. Sloping ramps take you to the top for great views - and during the tour we were able to loiter at Angela Merkel's office door.

Heaed home via the UBanh and SBanh (and Pat's supermarket) for an eat in night with shoes off after lots of km's - and dead beat!!

Paris to Berlin

Long day with very early breakfast and taxi.  Very light traffic (last week of summer holidays) saw us with plenty of time for Paris to Mannheim leg. On a TGV but not all the route is fast track - best is within France and touched 313km/hour. French countryside is quite spectacular with almost manicured cropping - grain harvest finished but now ploughing for next season. Very nice breakfast/morning tea box on French leg with passenger announcements in French, German and English.

Quick transfer at Mannheim for Berlin train. Once again very comfortable but without the niceties of France - buy your food and drink and announcements just in German. Agricultural areas very nice but not, the precision of the French. Many, many wind farms, some huge with around 100 turbines and quite a few solar farms.

On time into Berlin (after more than 9 hours) and brisk 800M walk to our hotel. The value of a pre-trip exchange of pleasantries (suck up!!!!) was rewarded with an upgrade to a full apartment (just completely renovated) with the works, kitchen, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer etc, etc. Pasta and pizza meal then off for a walk during which Pat discovered a supermarket - naturally, the best and cheapest she has ever encountered!!!! Blueberries €0.99/200gr - she is still talking about it, and still eating blueberries.

Big day of sightseeing tomorrow - forecast 28C.

Bad day in Paris - 24 August

After wonderful weather for the last 6 days, we woke to a mild but wet Paris day. Early steady rain which broke up for parts of the day but was with us in fits and starts pretty well all day - occasionally heavy, but mostly just beyond annoying, and sometimes worse.

We had a bus tour around the principal tourist sites which kept us quite dry. We then took leave at Invalides and walked back to Montparnasse and then the full length of Rue de Rennes though St Germaine before heading to the Seine and walking back to Musee D'Orsay and catching the Metro back to Javel and Avalon Creativity.

The Creativity is a beautiful ship kept in pristine condition and I could not fault any part of what Avalon delivered on this trip.  Being on the Royal Deck obviously had the benefit of the best views - including always being well above the river bank (except when in the locks) and beeing just steps from the rear lounge and its facilties. Our docking port is just a little distance from the Eiffel Tower, so it is always in view and we have an adjacent sightseeing balloon (locked down due to the weather today).

Our last dinner was, as always, beautiful, with the wine flowing freely. The challenge is a very early start tomorrow - taxi booked for 6.40am for the 8.07am train Paris Gare de l'Este to Berlin. Packing still to be done!!

Docked at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine

Somewhat cooler as we went for an early stroll to the waterfront market.  It is very hard to walk past the beatifully presented food stalls.  Then off to Auvers-Sur-Oise, the town in which Vincent van Gogh lived the last 10 weeks of his life.  Amazingly he painted just on 70 works in those 70 days before he committed suicide (or did he ????).

van Gogh sold only one painting while alive, even though his brother, Theo, who died just a few months later and is buried alongside, was an art dealer and his benefactor. The Notre Dame church of Auvers-Sur-Oise was the subject of one of his best known paintings (now in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris) and just 250 metres from the site of his death in the adjoining fields. Despite assurances of no rain, we were caught in a shower walking from those fields to the Inn where van Gogh boarded in those last weeks of his life.

It is worth mentioning the quality of the guides we have had - without exception, excellent.  Today's was a young woman who had travelled extensively (Australia included), had a vibrant personality and was very well researched. She could see the funny side of everything,  including the French themselves and particularly the Parissienes.

Relaxing time this afternoon as we sailed back toward Paris with a scheduled arrival around 8pm. Very peaceful on the river, plenty of slow boats, white swans and ever changing scenery. Very pleasant on the Sun Deck but had to lower the wheelhouse, radar etc to slide under a few bridges - hard not to duck. 

Very social night with champagne, canapes and a 5 course meal (small serves!!!) Including the obligatory parade of crew and bombe alaska.

Rouen - Saturday 22 August

Slower paced day today as we enjoyed blue skies and 30C in Rouen, the capital of lower Normandy.  Started off with a guided walk around the old town which features many spired churches (leading Victor Hugo to call Rouen the "city of the hundred spires"). Despite its WWII devastation, its old town contains 800 classified buildings and numerous half timber houses dating back to the 15th century.

It is also the city of Joan of Arc's barbaric martrydom, now memorialised on site in a beautiful stained glass centre, and it was the spectacularly spired Cathedral of Our Lady, that inspired one of Claude Monet's series of works.

Back on board for lunch (food is first class) before Pat and I explored further into an area of stunning food shops. The great pity is that you simply cannot get to eat it because we are so well fed on board. We wandered through a pedestrianised restaurant precint with a stream running through, an area of antique shops and even a violin/strings artisan.

The cobblestones are very hard on the feet and legs, and we always need to struggle a bit to get back on board. Took the opportunity for an on board haircut - Ezster from Hungary and just 8€!!!

Beautiful dinner as we sailed off in the sunshine and later finished the evening with the crew show - highlighted by an outstanding comedy skit. The crew are from many nations and seem to have great comradrie to go with their bright dispositions and dedicated customer service commitment.

D Day Beaches & Tastes of Normandy

We went our separate ways today, Pat on a Tastes of Normandy day and I went to the British & Canadian D Day Beaches and two war cemeteries. A beautiful day which touched 30C.

Our travel through upper Normandy took us through much of France's foodbowl, with very big wheat farms (record harvest this year), corn (for animal feed), sugar beet, flax, dairying, very impressive horse studs and, apple orchards for the cider and calvados. We also passed very big transmission lines and heard that Normandy has two nuclear power plants supplying 70% of the country's electricity.

My first stop was at Ranville Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. Ranville has some 2300 Commonwealth war dead from D Day and the fighting which followed (vast majority British). The yougest buried here was just 16 (having put his age up to enlist). Two Australians are buried here, Fl Lt's T. Anderson & Henry Lacy Smith, the latter having been shot down five days after D Day, on 11 June 1944.  Smith's plane crashed into a river and his body was not discovered and recovered until 2010. He was finally buried here in 2011. 300 Germans are also buried in this beatifully maintained cemetery - one of 18 the Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains in Normandy. Because of its commitment to the war in the Pacific, Australia had minimal D Day involvement - esentialy limited to the RAAF flying contingent.

We then moved onto what is now known as Pegasus Bridge. The bridge was over the Caen Canal and was targetted as the first and vital objective for D Day. It was taken in 10 minutes (the Germans having been convinced to move many troops toward Calais as the anticipated landing point). The 6th Airborne Division  force that took Pegasus came in from England on massive towed "gliders" (28 fully equipped soldiers in each). Three landed within 150 metres of the bridge to forge the beginning of D Day. The original Pegasus Bridge is in a quite new British museum which we visited, together with a replica glider and an original fuselage.

On then to Arromanches one of the beaches where the British established articial pontoon harbours (many remnants remaing in the water) to facilitate post D Day landings. Lots of people on the beach and in the water as the end of summer holidays approach.

Then to Courselles-S-Mer (Juno Beach) where the Canadians landed in the early hours of D Day, suffering huge casualties due to the obstacles placed in the water by the Germans and the land based bunkers from which the Germans operated.  Courselles-S-Mer is said to be the first town freed in the D Day campaign. It is now the site of a Canadian War Museum, staffed by young Canadians. It was quite surreal to see the town and its marina as a beach resort with many taking advantage of the summer sun.

Our last stop was Beny-Sur-Mer, Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery where more than 2000 (almost exclusively Canadian) are buried from the action on D Day and the early advance to Caen - eight sets of two brothers and one set of three.

Pat's Tastes of Normandy tour experienced all the agricultural and pastoral activity noted above and included a visit to Bayeux for its Gothic cathedral and the famous Bayeux tapestry which depicts the battles of William the Conqueror (known in many parts as William the Bastard). They then proceeded to Beuvron en Auge, said to be one of France's most beautiful villages, for sightseeing and a local lunch, including tastes of the three significant Normandy cheeses, including camembert. On then to the cider route road to Chateau de Brevil for tastings of cider and calvados, before the end of a 10 hour day.

It was a long day, it's a long post - and it will be a long read. Sorry!!!

Moored at Caudebec

Woke to what we understand is a typical Normandy day - fog across the water and misty rain. With breakfast over we headed off on the Route des Chaumieres to see some of Normandy's half timbered, thatched roof houses just as the drizzle ceased.  Some magnificent properties in a very quiet rural area, through fields and forests. The top ridge line of the thatched roof is planted with irises to tie the thatching together and to remove humidity from inside the property.

On then to a small Normandy town, Pont Audemer, where we walked those streets not destroyed by WWII bombing.  Lovely old shops in buildings more than 300 years old, with a number of water courses running between them. Once again, just us and the locals in what was now a pleasant morning.

Back on board for lunch and then to Honfleur at the top of the Seine estuary - and what a culture shock that was.   Unlike this morning's isolation and tourist free nature, Honfleur was packed with tourists.  Restaurants by the dozen on the waterfront - and all of them packed. Once again, ancient half timbered properties, including tall thin properties surrounding the waterfront and a massive salt wharehouse where tons changed hands, primarily to support the preserving of fish. Much of Honfleur had also been destroyed by WWII bombing but it is now a tourism mecca, particularly around the preserved harbour - but the ancient cobblestones took their toll as the afternoon ended.

Back to the ship for a D Day landings information session before dinner, which once again was delightful food, excellent company and good wine. Early night to prepare for a big 10 hour day to the Normandy landing beaches tomorrow.

Giverny & Les Andelys

Creativity sailed most of night and we passed through 4 locks. Good sleep, good breakfast, docked at Vernon and off we set for Monet's garden in Giverny.  Beautiful morning and we beat the crowds for an idyllic stroll through the gardens and the house.  Very colourful and relatively informal gardens and with the property now in the hands of the Monet Foundation.  Delightful small town of house proud owners and a number of galleries.

Back on board for a savoury pancake lunch from a local chef on the Sun Deck as we set sail for Les Andelys.  Once docked, we took the low road (not allowed to take the climb to Richard the Lionheart's Chateau Gaillard which was built as a fortress in 1196 and overlooks the town).  Les Andelys is one of the prettiest we have experienced anywhere - much of it Elizabethan, with the Parish Church of Grand  Andeley dating to the 1200's and a magnificent retirement home on the waterfront in what was previously a massive abbey.

A lot of shipping activity all along the river - predominantly working boats and barges.

Dinner beautiful as we sailed by long stretches of magnicent river front properties, many of Elizabethan flavour and size.  Very easy to see the past relationship of Britain and Normandy when you look at the predominant architecture of these parts.  Sitting in a lock, as I write this, the northernmost of 5 through which we have passed.

In to Paris - 17/18 August

Early pick up saw us with plenty of Tulla time. Our Express Pass seemed of little value in getting through Customs as our arrival coincided with many flight crew.  Once through Customs, however, we jumped the queue completely and were in the Singapore Airlines lounge in no time. On time boarding onto what seemed a very new B377 with a top notch crew who knew what customer service was all about. Heston B of the Fat Duck was on board and will never know how close he came to getting Curtis Stone's life story.

Transfer to Terminal 3 by foot and rail with more time in Singapore lounge and on time departure (A380) to CDG Paris. Very good service again, and a bit of sleep got us through. Beat our scheduled arrival time into CDG where our Express Pass saw us through French immigration without a queue and in 1 minute flat. Handed over luggage to Avalon rep and transferred to Pullman Montparnasee Hotel meeting point. After a freshen up, spent 3 hours wandering the Montparnasse streets before returning for our Eiffel Tower excursion.  Some years since we went up the Tower, but a pleasant 22C and a clear sky resulted in a good view over Paris - always spectacular.   Tower now has a glass floor on part of level 1 - not for me! Queues were very long but we bypassed most and had about 45 minutes at level 2.

Continued on for efficient Avalon check in on Creativity, welcome drink and settling in before setting sail on the Seine.  About 80% full with around 70% from US, and the balance mainly from UK, Canada, Australia and NZ - average age probably a bit older than us. Beautiful dinner and then an early night - about 46 hours since we were last in a real bed.