Travelling2015

31 Jan 18 Today was pretty much spent driving to Memphis. We left Dallas before 8am and travelled by interstate across Arkansas. At about 3.30pm we crossed the Mississippi and found ourselves in Memphis. What we first noticed was the difference in the buildings and a distinct lack of vehicles on the streets. We had to check the day of the week as I felt it was a Sunday or so a public holiday. No it was a typical Tuesday in Memphis. We are staying in what is called Midtown Memphis in an AirBnB place. It is an old house (105 years old apparently) with wooden floors in most rooms. It is very cold here. A quick check on the temperature and it was 12 degrees C. It surprised me as it felt colder than that. ... read more

17 Jan 18 We arrived at the long term car park 3 hours before our flight only to discover I had forgotten to book a place for the car. I remember I had priced it but failed to continue through to actually booking a space. We were lucky we were able to leave the car there. We continued our run of luck with a rather nice driver who dropped us off to the airport and we made our way to the lounge to wait for our flight. We boarded the 777-300ER and found our seats; they were very comfortable. After our lunch we found the bar. It was pretty good. We chatted to a few other passengers for about an hour or so. One of the passengers was Jane Davenport from Byron Bay who is an ... read more

17 March 2017 We decided to spend some time at Mont St Michel. I am so glad we included this in our itinerary. This church was constructed in the 10th Century, and dedicated to St Michael. It has served different functions since then and has been refurbished over the years. I was in awe as we wandered around the church buildings on this little island. We were lucky to be there to see the tide out and to see how a person could cross to this island at low tide. The photos are self explanatory 18 March 2017 We left Dinge early and headed toward San Sebastian, which was our overnight stop before arrived in Portugal. We took the main roads and found that the tolls in France are quite expensive. We paid almost 30 Euro ... read more

13 March 2017 Arrived in Paris at 8pm and got to the Hotel Monge at 9pm. We raced to the Laundromat but it was closed but would open again at 6.30am. Undeterred we went for dinner and consumed another bottle of wine between us. What the hell, we are only in France for a short time – make the best of it. 14 March 2017 We managed to get our clothes washed and dried and check out of the hotel by 9.30am. Got to the hire car company by 10. We decided to upgrade our car to a BMW grand tourer. So off we go into unknown traffic systems in car worth more than my annual wage! My stress levels can only go up from there. Once out of Paris (after a few wrong turns, screaming ... read more

We turned back south and headed back toward Bergen. Our first stop was Vardo. There is a fortress dating back to 1737. It had been snowing heavily and our photos show how much. We stopped at Hammerfest. It was a Sunday where there is nothing open except churches. This is a pretty town, with a lot of snow. It is reputed as being the world’s most northern town. It took a bit of hammering during WW2. During this war Norway avoided the hostilities by capitulating to the Germans. Unfortunately, when the Germans retreated they destroyed most of the buildings of where they had been. Pretty cruel actually. Hammerfest as been rebuilt and is quite a lovely sight. Our cruise has taken us again through Tromso this time at midnight – but no northern lights in view. ... read more