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Well it is almost over. Today is our last full day on this trip as we fly out of Tokyo on Friday at 21:30.

This morning we decided to jump on the subway and head across town to the Tokyo Government Office buildings. These are twin towers that are almost 50 storeys and have an observation deck that offers 360degree views of Tokyo. Unfortunately there was a lot of haze and pollution today which limited our visibility to probably 3-4 kms which meant we couldn’t see Mt Fuji. Never the less the view of Tokyo was worth the trip.

 

View from the observation deck

After lunch we did a guided bus tour which began in the main shopping district of Ginza and after passing a number of the major notable sites dropped us off on the harbour’s edge to join a harbour cruise up to Akasura to see a Buddhist temple and the local market.

 

Kannon Temple

 

Incense burner

Along the way you come across some interesting sites like these :-

 

The Wako Chocolate Shop

 

Building designed to represent a glass of beer

 

Harbourside bldg with hole

A few things you notice after being in Tokyo a little while. Firstly Tokyo seems a very clean and tidy city but the layout of the city is very disorganised, streets run at all angles and are very narrow. There are very few old buildings and lots of relatively new buildings. Perhaps World War 2 has something to do with this. Very few people smoke here compared to France or England. Lots of Japanese people have at least a reasonable appreciation of English. The people are very courteous and bow often.

Late night last night as we packed our bags ready to leave after breakfast. We jumped on a shuttle to CDG Airport at 7:45am. We have had to deal with some odd circumstances this trip and this morning was no exeption. A bomb scare at the terminal we were to fly out from meant the building was closed when we arrived and all the punters were 50m down the road waiting for the gendarmes to sort it out.

Good job we gave ourselves plenty of time because we needed it. With the bomb scare all the planes were forced to park out on the tarmac well away from the aerobridges so the boarding was by bus which meant the plane boarded 30 minutes early.

Anyway the flight was very good, partly because Sue and I scored terrific seats at the exit row, plenty of legroom and no babies at all (they are usually given bulkhead seats as the fold down bassinets are there)

We arrived at Narita airport 11 hours later, very tired and after the 80km bus ride into town we stowed our gear at the hotel and went for a look around town.

We had another stroll just on dusk and I took a couple of shots.

Hey look here....is that Shintaro ?

Paris is a sensational place to visit and enjoy. Essential gear required and a few tips :

Sharp knife - essential for cutting bread, smoked sausage, cheese etc

Corkscrew - no stelvins here

Fridge - no body sells chilled wine here.

Metro map - you can use the little ones that the hotels have but you need a magnifying glass to read easily. Better idea is to take an A4 colour copy with you.

Street map - a GPS is better

A keen eye for dog droppings - or a pooper scooper. There is dog...t everywhere.

French Phrase book (Pocket French/English dictionary is helpful too)

Tea bags - unless you like Earl Grey or Peppermint or Lemon tea, thats all the hotels ever have.

Toilet paper - necessary for the "French long drop" dunnies they have here. No paper, no toilet pan, not even a thunder box.......just a hole in the floor. Although some are classy porcelain holes !!

Credit card with a smart chip and PIN number - it makes buying easier.

Good walking shoes are mandatory

Walk on the right side of the footpath, stand on the right side of an escalator

Get used to drinking your coffee "short black". Cappuccino/Lattes with milk are not usually available.  Cafe au lait is. (Coffee with milk). Anyway you get strange looks when you ask for this so just go with the short blacks.

Beggars are common - don't acknowledge them, it only encourages them.

Plan your major sightseeing activities for Sunday because there are no shops open at all.

Be prepared for the French daily routine. Work day starts at 10am. Lunch at 12-2pm and everything shuts. Back to work at 2 until 6 or 7pm.

Breakfast is very light, a croissant and a coffee. Lunch is the main meal. You can eat well at any restaurant at lunchtime, very competitive menus on offer. Often 3-4 courses for 13 - 18 Euros. Dinner is light once again. 

Days are long in summer time. It gets dark about 10pm and light before 6am.

Our last day in Paris today. Our plan was to do some shopping this morning for our daughter Lauren - a trip across to Rive Gauche to the Ed Hardy shop on Rue de Rennes.

We were then off to the Champs Elysees again. Good job we buy all day Metro passes because we have been on and off trains every day.

Our local Metro station...Madeleine, what about the glass doors eh?

That reminds me that I have been intending to post my ideas of a Paris survival kit. After 2 trips to Paris now I reckon we have picked up a few clues.

Anyway back to the story.....we picked up some bread at the boulangerie and ate "lunch in" once again. We had some tomatoes, cheese, wine, ham etc to finish off, particularly the camembert we bought whilst very tasty was also very pungent....every time you opened the fridge door it would almost knock you over.

This afternoon we travelled on the Metro north to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. The Basilica of the Sacre Coeur is a magnificent church perched on top of the highest point within the city. From the steps of the Sacre Coeur you can see all around Paris. But first you must get there ! The Metro stops about 400 metres short , then you have to negotiate 200 plus steps to get to the church. Other option is to get in the queue and wait half an hour for the funicular railway. 

The steps of the Sacre Coeur.

The church has a huge dome form which an even better view of Paris is available, so off I went up another 330 steps (from memory the Arc de Triomphe is 284).

That's the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

After dinner we headed off down to Pont Neuf for an evening cruise on the Seine. Well worth the effort as we really enjoyed this. The guide spoke in both English and French and provided good commentary on all the sights along the way.

Pont Neuf, referred to as the New bridge, is the oldest over the river and started in 1578, still in magnificent shape.

Here is the "Small Bridge" which has collapsed a few times. In the background is Notre Dame Cathedral.

All along the river banks people were sitting enjoying a summers evening. Quite a number had bottles of champagne. I believe this is a Paris tradition. Good idea !

Another magnificent day ahead  28deg forecast. This morning Sue and I got onto the Metro for a trip across to the left bank. We were tracking down the location of a couple of shops and will return here tomorrow when the shops are open.

After lunch we made our way once again to The Champs Elysees to find a spot to watch the TdF. As we expected there were Aussie flags everywhere. Easily the most numerous of any country. We finally selected a spot where probably 30 other Aussies were camped. These guys came well prepared with 3 slabs of Heineken and bags of frozen peas instead of ice.

Just like last year, as the day wore on so did the growing presence of Aussie wit especially when challenged by other nationalities as they walked past. Just like at the football it is often the sideshows that are more fun than the real reason you are there.

No doubt our cheering got a fair bit of attention from the police and also TV cameras and photographers. Channel 7’s Jessica Adamson turned up, took some film, so watch out for the Channel 7 News on Monday night.

After the race finished we cheered the teams as they rode by on their parade lap. Each of the Aussies acknowledged the cheering and both Cadel Evans and Stuart O’Grady rode up to us and stopped. Cadel was mobbed . 

Difficult to see Cadel in there but he is. He finally stepped back.

O'Grady donned a yellow wig which fired up the boys.  

While Cadel didn't win we were all proud of his effort. Really all of the Aussies did a great job. 7 of them got the job done, only 2 of them didn't make it to the finish. This contrasts to last year where only 2 made it to the end.

Out shopping again this morning before lunch. Our hotel is just around the corner from where the major department stores are located. By the way, the famous Paris Opera house is directly across the road from the shops...

Lots of walking builds up a healthy appetite. We had a stroll through the gourmet floor in Lafayette Galleries and bought some magnificent ham, a brilliant camembert, some strong blue, tomatoes, baguettes etc so we could "eat in". In keeping with the last few days I picked up another bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte to wash down our lunch. There is just so much terrific looking food here especially the cakes.

Just 24 Euros will buy you a plate of small French treats.

Saturday was a very important day for all the Aussies in Paris. Everybody was hoping Cadel could pull something out of the bag and find the 90 secs he needs to take the yellow back. 

It was not to be, just like last year. On reflection I really think he needs to leave this team. Very disappointing has been the lack of support he has received.

In a half decent team he would have won 2 TdF by now.

Anyway, TdF aside, Sue and I caught the metro down to the Ille de Cite to see a concert by Les Archets. We saw these guys last year and enjoyed it so much we did it again. They play in a 12th century church that is far more impressive than Notre Dame.

After Vivaldi, Pachelbel and Mozart we went searching for dinner. We didn't feel like walking too far so we settled on the first place we came across.. "The Trapisste". The food there was nothing flash but I did enjoy a beer from Corsica called Pietra.This stuff beats the hell out of the Belgian beers that are every where here.

Next stop, Champs Elysees for a late night stroll down one of the world's most famous streets. Of course sharing the experience with about 100,000 other people.

Drove in to Paris this afternoon. As you would expect the traffic was fierce. Our Hotel is well positioned (just around the corner from Sue's favorite Paris boutique).

After taking our hire car back I returned to the hotel to get showered and dressed up for our visit to the Moulin Rouge. We missed this last year but made it a priority for this years trip.

We caught the Metro around to Blanche Place and stepped up to an incredible sight, hundreds of people lined up on the footpath to get in. 

I had prebooked our dinner and floorshow over the internet some weeks ago and at the time I was not sure of where we would be sitiing. When we got inside our waiter took us immediately to a front row table...so we were very lucky this time !!

Unfortunately, the Moulin Rouge, like a number of venues don't allow cameras etc..so no pics from inside. However the dinner was surprisingly good given they cater for 850 people in 1 sitting. Whatsmore the floorshow was sensational. Very bright colours and visual effects as well as some big surprises....like a women swimming in a water tank full of pythons arising from under the floor. Of course the Can-Can girls were there too.

The show was a real highlight and worth every penny....Moulin Rouge is not a cheap night out folks, but it is unique.

If you ever get the chance...just do it !!

Big sleep in tomorrow, shopping and then the TdF time trial. Go Cadel !!!  

We had previously planned to visit 2 of the bigger Champagne Houses today. Firstly Mumm in the morning and then Pommery late in the afternoon. However we were feeling a bit ordinary this morning after too much champagne, beer and aperitifs last night. So we shelved the morning tour and instead agreed to visit Mumm’s later in the day.

First stop this morning was the Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of Reims. A magnificent building but suffering badly from erosion of some of the sandstone features.

We enjoyed lunch at a very popular little spot on Rue de Vesle and after lunch a little more shopping was in order.

We made our way to G.H. Mumm’s cellars in time for a tour. The guide spoke excellent English so there was nothing lost in understanding the Mumm story and how they make Champagne. Down in these cellars they claim to have 25,000,000 bottles of champagne in storage.

After the tour we enjoyed a tasting of course, a glass of Cordon Rouge N/V and followed by a glass of Mumm Vintage 1999. Both were excellent but the Vintage was just a little bit smoother.

The caverns underground are vast

Following our evening meal we attended a concert at Charles de Casanove Champagne Cellars. The Hoboken Trio (Violin, Cello & Piano) were playing a selection from Haydn and Schubert. We got there early and scored good seats near the front. Unfortunately for those that came late, the seats were full and they missed out.

The Hoboken Trio

Today we left Magnicourt en Comte and headed off to Reims. We are planning to spend 2 days in the Champagne region sampling a small number of the claimed 10,000 different brands of Champagne.

We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch at the Subway store at Lens ?????. We just happened to have lunch here last year so we thought we would do the same again for “old time’s sake”.

We got into Reims in the early afternoon and after getting our bearings we settled into the hotel bar to watch the TdF. Today is the last day in the Alps and the toughest climbing stage so far. We were hoping Cadel Evans could pull something out of the bag and blow the others away…..but the race didn’t go according to the script. Anyway Cadel is still there with a chance, we will see on Saturday. The Time Trial will sort the men from the boys.

This evening we headed down to the eating strip on Place Drouet d’Erion for some dinner. When you are in the home of Champagne you must indulge in the local product, which of course we did a fine bottle of Nicolas Felitatte…good value at 57 Euros.

We spotted a novel innovation next door to our restaurant , sofas out on the main drag. I can just picture this trend catching on in Gouger Street.

Only 2 days now to Paris.

We awoke this morning to another clear sunny day, forecast max of 23 deg. After a quick breakfast we took to the streets of Lille for a look around and some shopping. The centre of Lille has some magnificent buildings.

As I have mentioned earlier you don't need to rush your brekkie because the shops don't open until 10am. They close at lunch at 12 and reopen at 2pm, except of course the larger department type stores.

Anyway, within the immediate vicinity of our hotel was a terrific range of shops including some of your more up market names like Gucci, Armani, Cavalli, Boss and so on. These shops were all open for business at 10am....the rest open a little later. I was amazed walking past one shop window to see Capsicum spray "On special".

Later in the morning we headed off to Fromelles, about 17kms from Lille. We visited the Australian Memorial and cemetery just outside the town. We also visited the much recently publicised mass grave site near Pheasant Wood. This is the place that was the subject of an archealogical dig in May and June to determine whether Australian war dead were located there.

The dig confirmed Aussies are there. There was a ceremony here last Saturday on the anniversary of the battle 19th July. A memorial plaque has been laid surrounded by wreaths. I guess this will have to do until the politics is sorted on what to do next with the site.

Here is the Cobbers Memorial just outside Fromelles.

After Fromelles, we then travelled to Bethune for lunch and then onto Magnicourt-en-Comte to stay at a B&B.

Great garden in this B&B.

Tomorrow we are off to Reims in the Champagne region to sample the local product.