2/10/05 - 7/10/05 Encore à Alsace Arriving in Strasbourg was a relief in many ways. Paris is a wonderful city, but after seven days we are in need of some relative peace. We were only in Strasbourg one afternoon, night and morning, before collecting our lease car. Our hotel had huge rooms, which was a surprise, but unfortunately next morning we found out there was no hot water. So, you can imagine how impressed we were (especially Lorenza). We collected our brand, spanking new, Renault Scenic and made it to Niedermorschwihr without causing any major traffic incidents. Although I am sure the red coloured, tourist plates on the car scream a warning to keep well clear of our vehicle! Niedermorschwihr (Try saying that village name to a taxi driver when you are drunk! “Driver, please take ... read more

27/9/05 Tuesday - I now have the grand distinction of having succeeded in having my Uncle and myself ejected from the Basilique du Sacre Cour! I am sure this is a world first, which I am very proud of. We went to Montmartre and took a browse through some shops, then a coffee below Sacre Cour. Lorenza decided to look at more shops, while Uncle Robert and I took a look at Sacre Cour. There was a Mass in progress and very obvious signs indicating that photos were not permitted. I discreetly took the cap off the lens of my camera and snapped off a pic, but alas the security folks are very vigilant and they spotted the movement of my zoom lens from many metres away. So, the security guard obviously did not recognise Uncle ... read more

22/9/05 - Uncle Robert is fun to have around at airport security checks, because he has metal pins in both his hips, he sets the alarm bells ringing every time. Our flight from Sydney was as much fun as economy air travel can be. Lorenza was sitting next to Peter, a very friendly and talkative guy from the Riverina District of NSW. He is a wine producer; in his own words he produces “bulk wine, but not quality wine”. He kept us entertained with a brief life history, including having run as an independent candidate for the Riverina in a few state elections. We arrived in Singapore at 9:40pm. We made it through immigration to the luggage carousel and Lorenza realized that good old Rob had left both our jackets on the plane! So, she rushed ... read more

Here are some of the nuts and bolts info about departure/arrival dates and times: Rob/Lorenza/Uncle Robert 22 Sep - Depart Sydney 3:50pm 24 Sep - Arrive Paris 12:40pm Uncle Robert 22 Oct - Depart Paris 9:40am 25 Oct - Arrive Sydney 6:20am Lorenza 31 Oct - Depart Frankfurt 11:25pm 2 Nov - Arrive Sydney 6:20am Rob 17 Nov - Depart Paris 9:25am 18 Nov - Arrive Singapore 11:15am 22 Nov - Arrive Sydney 6:20am When ever I read a flight schedule I always feel like breaking into that famous John Denver song (yep it was John Denver!) ..... Perhaps I will save that for a few weeks yet, but when it's time do join in on the chorus ok - I have included the lyrics to help you out ... I am tuning my guitar as ... read more

After getting to bed at 2am we had a rather late start to the day. I took a walk around the town cemetery and the town walls of Bergheim, while Lorenza sat in the sun reading a book. In the late afternoon we went for a drive to the mountain resort of Trois Epis. It is a lovely little haven in the Vosges. There is also some kind of climate station there as well, but I could not work out the French explanation of exactly what it was for. Back at our hotel, we tossed a coin to decide on tomorrow’s destination. Heads was Freiburg in Germany, tails was Basel in Switzerland. Tails it was, we would head south to Switzerland for the day. We went to bed laughing that we had such choices, considering in ... read more