Today we start with an official pre-cruise activity. We will be visiting the ancient Roman city of Aquincum. It was discovered in 1894 and is now a museum and archeological site.
Located there are preserved walls, baths, houses, an aqueduct and a forum that help to document military, civic and religious life at the time. It’s a historical window to Ancient Rome.
A quick bus ride took us there as it is located in the old Buda area. Our guide, Anna, led us through the ruins and did a great job of explaining the ruins and how they have interpreted life to have been like for the people living there.
It was all very interesting, but the feature that intrigued people the most were the baths and toilets. Forget the day-to-day living and merchant set up…but how did they get water to the baths and heat it and did they have to share toilet facilities?
Walking through the ruins
If your curiosity is running rampant, the water came from the aqueduct via smaller clay pipes and was warmed using hot air from a furnace that was kept burning day and night. The farther away from the furnace, the cooler the water would be. As for toilet-sharing, there was supposedly separate times for men and women to use the group facilities.
After visiting this Hungarian Pompeii, we boarded the bus and headed over to the Pest side of the city for a bit of a walk around.
We had a small group that was with Anna, as many folks went back to the hotel directly. We were able to personalize the walk with questions and personal stories from Anna and a woman whose grandmother lived in Budapest during the years of war and unrest. It was great that they chose to share some details with the rest of us.
Our walk took us through the city center by the US embassy, through Liberty Park, then by the war memorial and over to Saint Stephan’s Basilica.
Scenes from our walk
We made an early dinner reservation at a small Italian restaurant called ‘Comme Chez Soi‘. Now before you start thinking that it was just old folks looking for the senior special, we had an ulterior motive. We were thinking that we could squeeze in an evening river cruise when the lights come on. More on that later.
The restaurant is not large and all the tables were taken. We were definitely happy that we made reservations or we wouldn’t have gotten in – even for an early dinner.
The restaurant may have been small, but as they say: “Good things come in small packages!”. The staff were all wonderful – very personable, attentive and just plain nice!
As for the food, everything was fresh, delicious and house-made. We both started with a caprese salad, then Sue chose pappardelle with shrimp scampi. I went with the tagliatelle carbonara and we punctuated the meal with a bottle of Antinori Chianti Classico..
A very tasty dinner.
We even managed to sneak in a tiramisu for dessert. Our waiter then brought over a limoncello to put a cap on our meal.
We had a delightful meal and would definitely recommend the restaurant should you find yourself in Budapest.
Our walk back to the hotel found us moving quickly, as the clouds had returned and it was windier and chillier with a bit of drizzle. We hoped that it would pass, but alas, it didn’t.
We deliberated a tiny bit and then decided to forgo the boat ride, instead spending a relaxing evening in the hotel watching the riverboats and listening to music while resting our legs. We will see the buildings lit up when we sail from Budapest Sunday evening.
We woke up ready to do a little sightseeing and exploring in Budapest. Once we cleaned up, we had a delicious breakfast in the hotel. Afterwards, we went to meet our Ama cruise director and check-in.
Our cruise director, Kristina, will be overseeing every aspect of our voyage for the week. After a brief chat, we received our luggage tags and then were on our way. We stopped back to the room to drop off our tags, slather on some sunscreen and grab our sunglasses before heading out.
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Budapest was once three cities – Buda, Óbuda and Pest, separated by the Danube river. In 1873, the cities merged together to become what is now known as Budapest. Buda is across the river from our hotel and is the older city. It is hilly and contains many of the older churches and castles. Pest is the more modern part of the city and is mainly flat, so it’s easy to walk around and explore. It is considered the more commercial section.
Once merged together, the combined city became Budapest, Hungary’s capital city – and that’s what we’re here to see.
Budapest Coat of Arms
Today we’re going to start off with a walk through Pest. We also need to find tonight’s dinner restaurant so we know how to get there. It’s a beautiful day, sunny and warm, but not too hot. There are some clouds around, but no rain is expected.
There are quite a few people out walking around, especially along the river promenade. While there are not beaches or water attractions, there are plenty of opportunities via boat rides or cafes and benches to just enjoy being by the water.
We easily found tonight’s restaurant; it was just a ten minute walk from our hotel. It’s located in the Four Seasons Hotel and looks really nice.
We continued up the pedestrian street from the restaurant to St. Stephan’s Basilica. I have to say, the air on the street was a delightful mix of foods from all the eating places we were passing by. If we hadn’t had a good breakfast, we would have stopped in any one of them for a tasty bite.
Restaurant lined pedestrian streetSue and Sgt. Schultz?
When we arrived at St. Stephan’s, it wasn’t too crowded. One of the highlights is to climb to the dome and enjoy the views over the city. I’m sure the views are gorgeous, but stair climbing was not on our agenda for this walk.
Saint Stephan’s Basilica
From the basilica, we headed towards the Parliament building and the waterfront. The Prime Minister of Ireland was in town visiting with Hungary’s new Prime Minister, so the area right in front of the building was closed down. We were still able to take a few pictures, but an inside tour was not available. Perhaps another opportunity will present itself before we leave.
Side entrance to Parliament
We walked along the promenade back towards our hotel and the “Chain” bridge. Along the way we came to the memorial dedicated to the Jewish war victims. The nazis had lined up a large group of Jews, had them remove their shoes and then murdered them along the river bank. A shoe memorial has been constructed to remember the victims of the atrocity. It’s a very moving memorial.
Jewish Shoe Memorial
We continued on until we reached the Chain bridge and then decided to walk across to the Buda side of town. The bridge reminded us of walking across the Brooklyn bridge in New York City. Lots of great views of the city and all along the waterfront.
Chain Bridge Views
Upon crossing, we thought about taking the funicular up to the castle area but chose to wait, as we were both getting tired from all the walking. We chose instead to sit and relax for a bit and watch as the lines of people headed up.
Funicular to Castle Hill
We walked back across the bridge with the sun now shining brightly and heating up the afternoon.
Continuing along the promenade, we passed many riverboats preparing for their next group of passengers. Some would be leaving today, others on Friday or Saturday. It didn’t take a genius to see that we would definitely not have the river to ourselves.
On your marks…
There are many interesting statues that you pass as you walk along the promenade.
“You can see that from here?”“Fletcher the fetcher? Really?”
When we arrived back at our hotel, we were both tired and thirsty – wine time!
We enjoyed a bottle of water, a glass of rosé and a comfortable patio chair before heading in to relax for a while.
There was a brief reception at 6:00 pm to toast to a successful voyage and hear some details about the pre-boarding activities. A quick glance around the room revealed a group with an age range of 50’s to 80’s, mostly Americans and Canadians, and a few groups of friends traveling together, which is about what we expected.
When the meeting broke up, it was time for Sue and I to head to dinner. This would be our official anniversary dinner. We are going to a restaurant called Kollázs Brasserie & Bar located in the Four Seasons Hotel.
We arrived at the restaurant and we were promptly seated. The interior was nicely decorated in a comfortable art deco style. The room filled up quickly with a diverse mix of locals and foreigners.
We ordered a bottle of Domaine Christian Moreau Chablis, goat cheese salads and then Sue had grilled sea bass, while I had the seared sea scallops. We also ordered a side of mashed potatoes with truffles.
Sea bassSeared scallops
Everything was delicious!
For dessert, I ordered a chocolate sponge dobosh cake with two spoons. It was also delicious and was surprisingly “on the house” for our anniversary. I must have checked a box when I made the reservation.
Afterwards, we took a nice stroll along the waterfront back to our hotel, enjoying the lighted buildings, bridges and ships.
We cleaned up, relaxed for a while and then it was off to dreamland. It had been an active day and we were tired.
Our travel day has arrived. It will be a long day, but it will also be the start of a new adventure. I took care of a few last minute items yesterday, including making dinner reservations for our days in Budapest. Nothing else to do now except enjoy ourselves.
We started our journey with a ride up to Toronto Pearson Airport. Our transport was by the fine folks at Airport Taxi Transfers. We’ve used them numerous times and can always count on good service at a reasonable price. I am content to relieve ourselves of the stress of having to deal with the traffic and parking. Door-to-door pick up and drop-off wins every time in my book.
The ride from Buffalo went flawlessly. It was a beautiful, sunny day; perfect for a ride along the lake up to the airport. We literally did not encounter any traffic until we reached Hamilton and that was just a minor construction delay.
We arrived a little earlier than expected, so we waited about forty-five minutes before we could check-in. Afterwards, we went through security in about ten minutes. That gave us plenty of time to have a light dinner in the Air Canada Signature Lounge.
As the Signature Lounge is one of the perks of flying business class with Air Canada before our flight, we always try to avail ourselves of their hospitality. We had a nice late lunch – we both had beet salads and then an Atlantic Halibut plate for Sue and a Smash Burger for yours truly. Oh….and a couple of glasses of wine to go with the meal.
Lunch at the Signature Lounge in Toronto Airport
About a half hour before boarding time, we made our way down to the gate to mingle with the waiting horde.
Once we were called to board, we settled into our pods for the eight hour flight from Toronto to Munich, Germany. We enjoyed a glass of welcoming sparkling wine and then buckled in for take off.
The flight was fairly smooth, just a few bumps as we took off and then a few more before we landed. Otherwise, it was a non-eventful flight – the best kind! Sue watched movies while I was on my iPad. We ate, snoozed a bit and then arrived in Munich.
The Munich Airport is pretty large. It was also clean and modern, but as we landed early, it wasn’t too crowded. Our first task was to get through passport control.
As Munich was our first European destination, we had to register under the new EU EES (Entry / Exit Systems) regulations. The process is straight-forward and only takes an extra couple of minutes.
When you reach Passport Control, the agents scan your passport as usual and then ask a few questions about your travels. Then they collect your biometric info by taking your photo and scanning your fingerprints. That’s it.
The real holdup would be if the airport is extremely crowded as then it would become a volume problem. However, from what I’ve been reading, most of the airports seem to be doing a good job in keeping the line moving. Kudos to Munich for a job well done.
We took the shuttle from the International terminal to the regional terminal to get to our gate. We had a little over two hours to wait before our next flight to Budapest.
Our flight to Budapest would be on Lufthansa Airline. It was our first time with them and it was a good experience. The one little surprise was when we went through the gate to board and ended up filtering onto a bus. The bus then drove us to an airplane parking lot where our plane was waiting.
It was there that we boarded and then taxied for take off. Nothing terrible, just unexpected.
The flight to Budapest took just fifty-five minutes and then it seemed like it took just as long to get our luggage. When we did get our bags, we walked out and our driver “Tomas” was waiting for us, sign in hand.
It took about forty minutes to get to our hotel. The route from the airport gave us a little peek at old Budapest and a little peek at new Budapest. We chatted with Tomas along the way and when we arrived at the Danube River, we were shocked to see all the riverboats moored there.
We saw at least thirty river boats from all different companies. Some were waiting for their next trip, others were loaded with passengers in town sightseeing for the day. When we made the turn towards our hotel, we could see that there were still more boats down the river.
We are staying at the Budapest Marriott – located right next to the Danube River. It is a lovely hotel and conveniently located within a short walk of many of the major tourist sites. We usually try to avoid the big chain hotels, but it was part of the cruise package recommendations and looked very nice.
We were greeted by Adrian at the reception desk, who was extremely pleasant and helpful. Despite us being a tad early, she checked us in and gave us a lovely room along with lots of good advice.
Our river view room at the Marriott Hotel in Budapest
After getting settled in our room, we wanted to orientate ourselves with the surrounding area. However, a nap took precedence. Sue took a shower while I waited on the sofa and fell asleep. I guess we’ll get acquainted with the city tomorrow!
For dinner, we ate at the hotel restaurant called DNB Budapest. The dining room had a splendid view over the Danube River and was a cozy place to relax.
DNB Budapest – our hotel restaurant
We had a wonderful first meal. Our server, Balasz, was awesome – very encouraging when we tried a little Hungarian and guiding us through our food selections and our wine choice. His words: “You chose well”.
As for the meal, we started with an appetizer of grilled sweet corn rows with paprika, garlic and onion. Then I had a small bowl of goulash. Sue’s main was pappardelle with duck confit, while I had a pork schnitzel. We chose a bottle of Hungarian wine that paired well. No dessert, as we were both getting tired.
Duck confit with pappardelleSchnitzel with mashed potatoes
We headed back to our room to relax and catch up on some sleep.
While the temperatures are still chilly here in Western New York, it’s nice to be able to think about warmer days ahead. Spring may have officially arrived, but I’m thinking about our cruise on the Danube River that is growing closer by the day.
AmaWaterways – AmaMora
We measure the closeness by the fact that the final payment invoice has arrived. By the time you are reading this, the payment has been made and confirmed. The next step will be to review the excursion list and select our choices. After that, we will receive our final documents and we’ll be ready to travel.
Since we’re all in this together, I will share a few of the choices with you. The good news is that all of the excursions are included in the price we paid, which was one of the reasons we selected to travel with AmaWaterways.
The choices include both easy paced walks and some more active hikes and bike rides. Yes, for those who know us, there’s a pretty good chance that we’ll be choosing the easier walks.
In Budapest, there is a Buda city tour, a Pest city tour and a hike up castle hill.
In Bratislava, a “coronation city walking tour”, a Tastes of Slovakia outing and a Bratislava Castle hike.
In Vienna, there is an Imperial Vienna tour, a city tour by bike and then some free time to just enjoy the pastries… I mean city.
Our next stop is in the UNESCO Wachua Valley. Here, there is a visit to the town of Dürnstein and the Melk Abbey, a wine and apricot tour and a Dürnstein Fortress hike.
Next comes a stop in Linz, Austria. Here the offerings are a full day tour to Salzburg, a full day tour to Český Krumlov or a UNESCO “City of Media Arts” walking tour.
Our final stop is in Passau, where a “City of Three Rivers” Walking Tour, Passau Castle Hike or Passau Inn River Bike Tour are offered.
And, of course, we can just choose to stay on the boat and sip a glass of wine watching life float by on the Danube. That’s available every day, but we’re excited to see the region and towns.
At the end point of the cruise, in the town of Vilshofen, we have an “Octoberfest” party.
After disembarking the cruise, we will be hopping on a train and heading to Munich for a few days to explore a little bit. Even being a confirmed ‘wine guy’, I’m looking forward to checking out a couple of beer halls and hearing the ‘Oom Pa Pa’ bands while munching on a big pretzel. This will mark our first real visit to Germany, as previously we’ve only passed through German airports.
We have booked two activities in Munich. The first is a night walk with a Medieval Night Watchman. With only a lantern to light the way, we will explore some of the sites in old town Munich. The second is a day trip to see the Neuschwanstein Castle (also known as King Ludwig’s Castle). We’ll also make two other stops along the way back to Munich.
Neuschwanstein Castle
That’s the preview for now. The details will come in the daily updates while we are there. The excitement meter is rising and we’re getting closer by the day.
If you read the two previous posts, you know that we are planning to go on a River Cruise in Europe and then a tour of Japan in the fall. I can officially give you a ‘two thumbs up’ signal, as everything except traveling is completed.
For the AmaWaterways River cruise on the Danube, we received confirmation for the extra days in Budapest and completed the preliminary checklist with the purchase of travel insurance to cover those extra days.
We’re using a different insurance provider this trip called Faye. They’ve received good ratings and it is very straight-forward to get a quote and purchase. Hopefully we won’t need to use their services at all, but I’ll let you know what we think of them when we return.
For those who asked why we decided on AmaWaterways instead of the other tour companies, it really came down to a gut feeling.
We checked out a few YouTube videos to get a feel for what was being offered, read a few reviews from each of the main tour companies, looked at the excursions they each offered and then considered the available dates and prices. Based on that, we thought AmaWaterways was a good fit for us. As for who we looked at, we considered Viking, AmaWaterways, Uniworld, Avalon and Tauch.
We’re looking forward to going and it won’t be too long before we leave.
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As for Japan, we booked our flights this week and that was the last of the big items to be completed. Right after clicking the purchase button, the excitement sent a chill through us.
We were able to book direct flights on Air Canada from Toronto to Tokyo and then Tokyo to Toronto. We’ll be flying to and from Haneda Airport, which is the airport closest to the city.
The tour company took care of adding additional days at the hotels for us at the beginning and end of the tour and will provide us with transport to and from the airport. That will help tremendously, as we won’t be thrust into “Go Mode” as soon as we land.
We’re watching videos to try and learn about the etiquette and foods to try, along with trying to listen to pronunciation of some key words and phrases to help us along the way. By the time we leave, I might be reading Shakespeare in Japanese or shaking with fear trying to remember ‘please’ and ‘thank you’!
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So that’s the update. We’re done with the hard stuff and waiting for the fun stuff to begin.
Kon’nichiwa! In the previous post, I eluded to future plans. Well, it’s now official: next fall we are booked for a tour of Japan. We will be spending sixteen days exploring and learning about the “Land of the Rising Sun”.
Sue has always wanted to visit Japan and my second irrational fear… getting stomped on by Godzilla…has always kept me from traveling there. This trip, we will let her desire overcome my fear.
I will find you when you arrive in Tokyo!
(Photo from The Kewanee Voice and Dreamstime.)
For the folks that heard the early talk about taking a Japanese cruise, we scuttled those plans. The main reason was that we would spend more time getting on and off the ship and wouldn’t have the time to explore the country. We think that the land tour will be a much better fit for us and it will be harder for Godzilla to track us down.
After reviewing many different options, we decided to take a tour with InsideJapanTours. It will give us a good overview of Japan, Japanese culture, food and customs, plus we’ll get to see big cities, smaller towns, natural beauty and ride the Bullet Train.
The itinerary sounds interesting, moves at a slower pace and includes many cities and sights that we are interested in seeing. They also include many activities that we get to participate in. Activities including cooking classes, ritual drumming, meditation at a shrine with a temple priest and tea with a Maiko (Geisha-in-training) will be interesting and fun.
The flight over will be a long one – a bit over thirteen hours. Hopefully, we’ll be able to sleep on the flight so we can hit the ground running. I’m sure that jet lag will come into play our first few days there, but I’m counting on the excitement to overcome it.
Since they have everything planned out during the tour, I get to work on the extra days: two before the tour and then two after the tour. I have some ideas that might be fun, but we’ll have to figure out the lay of the land before we can plan. Luckily, we have almost a year to figure things out.
We’re busy looking at airfares and pinching ourselves, as it’s hard to believe that we made the leap from our comfort zone of western Europe. However – YOLO!
We have a lot of videos to watch and websites to check out to gear up for next year’s adventures. So for now… Sayōnara!
Sometimes the best decisions in life are the ones you don’t think too hard or too long about. For instance, we have been thinking about what we want to do next year for vacation. As we were watching television, we saw a commercial for a river cruise and said: “What about something like that?” Fifteen minutes later, we were browsing online to see what was available. The next afternoon, we booked a Danube River Cruise.
Yes, it really happened that fast! While we were in Chablis, we had been looking at something completely different for next fall and that’s still on the table. A week without a future adventure was more than my system could take.
If you know me, you probably know of my reluctance to get near a cruise ship. I don’t know what terrible thing happened in a prior life, but me and the water usually take completely different paths. As I grow older, I realize that my irrational fear is something that I need to conquer. What better way than on a boat sailing on the beautiful Danube River ?
I’m counting this as an ‘80%’ tour: 80% structured tour/ 20% freeform. That is something that I typically tend to avoid. I love to do the research when planning a trip, so this will be different in many ways. However, I do get to plan out our time in Munich.
Enough about me. Here’s what we booked:
We will be sailing with AmaWaterways on a 7 night cruise called “Melodies of the Danube“. We added 2 nights pre-cruise in Budapest, Hungary to have some exploration time. We are also adding four extra days at the end of the cruise to explore Munich, Germany.
Our Danube river route.
There will only be a total of 156 passengers, plus another 51 crew members. Meals are all included and AmaWaterways is a member of the “La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs”, so the food is supposed to be very good. I can only go by what we’ve read, so it will be interesting to see what it’s really like.
We found flights that are to our liking, although we couldn’t find any direct flights to Budapest. Coming home, we were able to fly direct from Munich, so that added to our reasoning to stay and explore for a few extra days. We were able to find a great hotel in the heart of the Munich Old Town. It’s called the Platzl Hotel and it is perfect for walking around and sightseeing.
Port of calls within the voyage are visits to three countries we’ve not been to before – Hungary, Slovakia and Germany. My globe is going to fall over soon…we’re gonna need to go somewhere besides Europe.
We’re starting to get communications with additional details, so I’m sure there will be at least one update before we go.
To anyone who has been on a river cruise: feel free to send along suggestions or tips. This is a totally new experience and we are willing to learn.
When we first talked about traveling to Chablis and staying for a month, we had some doubts. We wondered if it would be a silly attempt to prove how much we enjoyed traveling throughout France. We had questions about whether our limited knowledge of the French language would be a hindrance. We also worried that the townsfolk would not like us as outsiders.
When our friends Nancy and Michael said that they’d be willing to join us for a part of our stay, we were delighted. We would have friends to share our adventure and someone to talk to if others shunned us. I know…how dramatic!
Well, from the first day in Chablis, we knew we had made the right decision.
So these are just OUR random reflections. Not a guidebook, not a promotion…just our opinions. Here we go:
Chablis:
Chablis was exactly what we wanted it to be. It’s a smaller town with a population of around 2,500. It has history, it has architecture, it has character, it has wine, it has charm and it has some very warm and welcoming people.
It was a great location for exploring. We could walk around town or we could drive to many interesting places without much effort. We used the Waze app while driving around, but the roads are well marked and well maintained. We didn’t do much driving when it got dark though, as you won’t be finding street lamps in the middle of the countryside.
We loved our routine walks to the small market and boulangeries. Walking back with our supplies or fresh baguette, sandwiches and pastries had us feeling like we were part of the townscape. We became regulars and were greeted as friends rather than strangers after just a couple of visits.
Being in a small town meant that everything was within walking distance. We didn’t put many miles on the car since we were able to walk to dinners, tastings and shops. It will take some getting used to having to drive everywhere at home. I want to walk around the corner and get a breakfast pastry or fresh baguette instead of having to go to the supermarket.
Accommodations:
There are some nice places to stay within town. However, we struck gold when we found the house that we stayed in. It allowed us to ‘live’ in Chablis, not just visit. What I mean by that is that we could be comfortable in the space rather than having to share common space with others. We had a salon, a kitchen, a dining room, a study, an upstairs, multiple bathrooms and outdoor space. We never felt like we were on top of each other, even when there were four of us in the beginning.
Our charming house in Chablis
We had great hosts that were always an email or phone call away for any questions. We communicated before, during and at the end of our stay and they were helpful in getting us settled, showing us what we needed to be aware of and even made their housekeeper available to us during our time there.
It was also nice to be able to grab breakfast, lunch or snacks and bring them back home. We didn’t do much cooking at the house, but we could warm things up and that hot cup of tea in the morning was always a treat. Relaxing outdoors on the warm days was an extra treat too, as were our ‘home picnic’ breakfasts and lunches.
Restaurants:
We had a nice rotation going with the restaurants in town. If you followed the blog, you saw some mighty fine eating going on. We never had a sub-par meal at any of the restaurants we went to. Whether it was a lighter meal, tapas or fine dining, the one common thread was that it was delicious and freshly prepared.
Part of traveling is fitting in and trying different foods. We had that chance once again with different ingredients in our meals. There wasn’t any one big item this trip, but there were things like tonka beans, damsoms and sea buckthorn. We’d never heard of them before, but they sure made our meals tasty.
The other important note was that it was all reasonably priced. Most of the time we would select the dinner menu, which was an entrée, plat and dessert for a fixed price. So most of those scrumptious meals were fixed price combos for less than 40 euros. And even when we went ala carte. especially for the tapas, the prices were excellent. The price gauge only moved when we ordered pricier wines, however even the wine prices were reasonable. I can tell you that our selections would have been much different if we were paying Paris or USA prices.
Our ‘Tasty Six’ rotation.
People:
This is probably the thing that stands out above everything else for us. We had spent 48 hours in Chablis two years ago and that was enough to make us want to come back. Now we’d be there for four weeks. Would that same vibe be there for us ? In very big letters – YES!!
Our first encounter was with the house owners and they were lovely people. What a great way to ease into our stay. After that, the next group of people we would meet were all service-related people: restaurant hosts, shopkeepers, and winery people. Everyone seemed to appreciate our attempts at speaking French or encouraged our use by helping guide us through when we’d get stuck. Nobody laughed, were impatient or discouraged us at all.
After a few days, we would get smiles or waves from individuals that we had previously met with. By the time we left, we received some very nice goodbyes and a few hugs or handshakes with pleasant exchanges saying they hoped we would return.
Things to do:
Chablis is located in the Yonne region and within a short drive, there are plenty of things to see and do if you want to wander. Hiking, biking, boating, cave exploration, wine tasting, history, castle building and beautiful landscapes are just some of the options you have nearby. We’re older with some aches and pains, so while hiking and biking weren’t high on our list of activities, there were plenty of other things that we enjoyed.
We loved our visit to the Guédelon Castle site. It was like getting to peek back in history, without having to deal with the plague or rogue highwaymen.
Pontigny Abbaye was another beautiful place to visit. Historic and serene with a well-presented story.
Walking through Noyer-sur-Serein was another wonderful experience. Being from the US, this is another place that has been around longer than our country was even supposedly discovered.
Honestly, I only had one complaint while we were driving through some incredible landscapes. There were no real places to pull over and take pictures and marvel at the beauty. I would have taken many more pictures if there had been.
Wine:
While it isn’t for everyone, it is for us. Since we were driving on our own, we didn’t do any tastings outside of town. All of our wine drinking was done at wineries around town, at restaurants with meals or at the house. Not frat house drinking, but rather getting to taste some of the best wines available with friends or while relaxing.
If you enjoy Chablis wine, then there is nowhere else that you want to be. Each restaurant had incredible wine selections available and at many different price levels. Being in Chablis was eye-opening when it comes to wine pricing. We were amazed at the prices, easily 25 – 50% lower than what we end up paying for them when they finally get to the US.
Summary:
What a magnificent experience!
Our time in Chablis completely exceeded our expectations. People keep asking me what I would change and my answer remains the same…nothing! Even the little stretch of chilly, rainy days didn’t dampen our spirits. You just accept it and go with the flow. (Ok, a little whining is acceptable).
It took a lot of time to plan things out and take care of all the details, but like I always say: “That’s what winter days are for”.
Day 6 – At least the flight path was devoid of traffic.
The day we travel home has arrived – a little too early in the morning for me, but that’s just the way it is. We have a taxi coming for us at 8:00 am, so we could get ready without having to rush. Sue packed most of the luggage last evening, so showers, a little breakfast and then we’ll be on our way.
We went downstairs to check out and settle the bill as morning was breaking in Paris. People were walking the streets and cars were starting to drive by, Our taxi arrived a little early and we were ready and waiting…so off we went.
It’s always interesting to see a big city starting its day. Shops are opening, people hustling about and stopping into cafes for their morning coffees. We just cruised along and then headed towards the suburbs and CDG Airport.
And then it started. Not a rainstorm, not a protest…a monstrous traffic backup.
The traffic coming into the city is expected, however the traffic heading out is a whole other story. What is usually a fairly smooth ride to the airport turned into a long and winding standstill. We were just creeping along while coming upon occasional accidents. The only ones moving were the motorcycles lane-splitting their way through the traffic.
Our driver did his best to keep moving along, albeit slowly. He was so worried about us getting to the airport late, despite our telling him we had plenty of time. It ended up taking us about an hour and a half to get to the airport, so nearly double the usual time. We felt bad because he had to drive back in all that traffic.
The good news was that since many others were stuck out there in the traffic, the airport wasn’t too busy. We met two women who had just finished a river cruise and they told us all about how much they liked AmaWaterways. We made a mental note of their ringing endorsement for future use.
We made our way through check-in, passport control and security in no time at all. Since we did have plenty of time, we headed to the business class lounge to relax and grab a little breakfast snack. It was not crowded at all – probably the result of the traffic delay.
We had about two hours until boarding time, so it was great to have a comfortable place to sit and relax, not to mention occasionally being able to sneak in a pastry or two.
When the boarding time neared, we made our way to the gate. When they announced that boarding would begin soon, all the ‘gate lice’ started to block the way so they could rush to their pre-assigned seats. I’ll never understand that mentality. I guess they hope that sometime the airline will board ‘Zone 3’ first!
We boarded, got settled and then waited to take off. Right on time, we started rolling down the runway and we were off. The flight home was good. We had a little turbulence, but only for a few minutes. Eight hours later, we arrived in Toronto. It was uneventful, just what we like when flying.
Passport control, luggage pick up and customs was a breeze and soon our driver was picking us up for the ride home. Unless you’re Canadian, you probably didn’t know that this was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. We knew, but we sort of forgot until we were once again in a traffic jam getting out of Toronto.
Good grief! Our driver tried maneuvering around it, but ultimately we just had to grin and bear it for a while. We did take the toll road to get around some of it and connect up with the QEW heading towards the Niagara region. No matter, we were on the way home and wouldn’t be late for anything.
We arrived home while it was still light out and let me tell you, it felt a bit weird being home. The first thing we did was crank up the heat to warm up the house. I guess the last few nights had been colder and the house sure felt it.
So that was it – an entire day of nothing but travel. ‘Hurry up and wait’ was the theme for the day.
All that said, it always feels good to get back home, especially after a long trip. We loved the house in Chablis and the hotel in Paris has become our regular place to stay when there, but nothing beats home!
We woke up to start our last day in Paris. It’s hard to believe that this adventure is coming to a close. We don’t have much planned for the day, but we have plenty to keep us busy. Paperwork, packing and lunch will be our primary tasks.
Lunch at La Rôtisserie d’Argent was our final meal in Paris and it was a fine choice for a send-off meal. It is located in the 5th arrondissement just a short walk from Notre Dame and across the street from its famous sister restaurant La Tour d’Argent.
As it is right between Metro stations and not on a direct bus route, we opted to take a taxi to avoid someone’s hair from getting messed up – and Sue’s too! Given that it was just past noon, the streets were pretty busy and there were more people walking around than the day before.
Fear of the restaurant being stuffy and over-priced because of its pedigree vanished as soon as we entered. We were greeted and welcomed in like old friends. We were given the choice to pick any table we wanted and ended up sitting in seats right in the front window. Every French movie set in a Bistrot flashed through my mind. (Honestly, I only know a few, but they did all flash through my mind…)
To add to the fun, we again asked for one menu in French and one backup in English. The host, who was also to be our server, laughingly said he would only talk to us in French – and then did. He did slip in a little English here and there to help us out.
We ordered a duck terrine that we split, then we both had the signature duck confit. We also ordered a bottle of red burgundy – 2022 Domaine Nicolas Rossignol Volnay.
Duck terrineDuck Confit with roasted potatoes
Then before I could plead my case, our server convinced me to order dessert. How could I say no? No, really, I didn’t know how. So an île flottante found its way to our table – luckily!
I’ll cut right to the chase – it was an awesome lunch! The food lived up to the restaurant’s reputation and the wine paired exquisitely. When you add in the service and friendliness of the staff, it was just perfect.
Since we were just across from taxi stand, we thought it might be smart to take a taxi back to the hotel. The driver was less than thrilled to have a small fare, but graciously took us back to our hotel. The walk from the restaurant is deceptively longer than it appears on paper. Anyway, twenty minutes later we were back at the hotel digesting our meal.
We were within the timeframe, so the first thing we did was check-in for our flights tomorrow. Everything went smoothly and everything looks to be on-time.
We have some snacks in the room that we’ll save for later, but we won’t be venturing out this evening. Our taxi will be picking us up at 8:00 am to head to the airport, so we’ll be going to bed early to get a good night’s rest.
Slightly Whirled - A Traveler's Tales 