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Day 2 Sunday . A fitfull night sleep. The neighbours with their many children rocked up after dark. The children were like feral animals running up and down the corridors screaming and shouting . Doors were opening and slamming . The parents may have made a feeble attempt at shutting the children up but they seemed to fail miserably. Until such time as an angry voice rang out. I really don't know if it were a parent who had had enough of the appalling behaviour or it was another guest . We heard loud voices telling the children to be quiet, to stop shouting and stop being disrespectful . That put paid to the shouting and running about but then the TV went on. Rather loudly at first but that did not last long . Eventually silence returned and I was reminded why we hated hotels and had taken up very independent travel in Suzy and Gabby. At 2am the drunken revellers turned up waking us from any slumbers we were having . We were grateful when morning broke . With no reception in the hotel it was clear you could do what you wanted. That was definately one thing we
did not like about the Hotel du Golf . We wondered what breakfast might be like . Given the attempts at serving us a meal last night we were not particularly hopeful of a pleasant experience . Well sometimes you are wrong . The tables were set up for breakfast and we were joined by a couple and a table of four . On the buffet was a selection of bread, pain a chocolate and croissants. Toast if you wanted it . A choice of three cereals , two different fruit juices , fresh fruit and tinned fruit with yoghurts , a selection of hams and one type of cheese . A real spread and a shock if I were honest . We ate up . Picked up another croissant for our tea break further down the road and a banana. And then we set off leaving a very clean and tidy Calais behind us .
No litter, clean and tidy pavements, sun loungers along the promenade , beach huts and lovely seaside houses and flats . A rond point with a few enormous oversized beach huts and seats. We left and headed for the motorway and Reims .
Past the allotments and to the first peage of the trip . Would our tag work ? We quickly found out as it pinged into life and the barrier lifted . We let out that sigh of relief as we always do . We are booked into a hotel in Chalon sur Saone tonight . A five hour drive . An Ibis so should be nicer than last nights offering . It will be interesting to see the similarities and the differences . Our first stop was an aire for a quick trip to the toilet . The toilet was clean and tidy and for once was a pleasure to use . Traffic was light as it was a Sunday. Lunch was spent at a second aire . This time the toilet a Turkish type which smelt as if it had never been cleaned . That goes down as one of the most offensive smelly french toilets I have been in. It is extremely odd how you quickly go off using them.
We talked about breakfasts and smiled as we remembered excellent ones in Chicago and dreadful one in some motels in the USA. Muffins only. Muffins but none left as the other guests had eaten them all . No muffins as they had been dropped on the floor and we are not getting anymore . Is that my memory or was it really like that ?
We arrived at the Ibis and struggled to find a way in . There are three Ibis within stricking distance of each other . We eventually found ours . Free WiFi, complimentary breakfast but the room was not ready . We had to drink a coffee to pass the time away. The room was smaller . The TV was bigger . No bath but a nicer shower. No facility to make a drink in the room . For a coffee we needed to go down to the bar . They had us captive there . A 15% discount voucher for the restaurant next door . So looks like we are eating there tonight . No phone signals at times which seems odd . The Smarty Sim will not work . This trip seems much harder than any we have been on before .
After four hours we had settled in . The walls like the Golf were white anaglypta . Easy to repaint I guess . The towels were clean. The walk in shower massive with free shampoo which you would expect . The curtains a mink colour and the bed head a bit of a sickly tan colour . Set against the deep blue of the walls behind it . The carpet dark blue or black and mink colour . Tasteful and modern I guess was the best way to describe it . The bed linen in both was white . The beds felt comfy . Would we get a better nights sleep it was hard to second guess . We are as usual far out of the city centre amongst the Bricolage shop and the petrol stations. As always the out of town hotels are set in more industrial retail settings. Too are to drive into or walk into Chalon . As we passed by places on the way I found myself thinking why had we not stopped at Vimy Ridge or Charles De Gaule monument ? We could have paid homage to the man who said non to us British when we begged to join the Common Market . Long memories or what ? What is next for us dinner out .
Day 3 - a day of picking up fuel as the car with no name won't get us to Cogolin. Breakfast before we leave and thoughts on Cogolin at night . There is a nice Italian in town we need to try out. We did not get fuel as the road we travelled down had no entrance on our side . Breakfast had been better than the day before . I ate muesli with fresh fruit . Lovely bread , good cheese. Would we use an Ibis again? Yes I would do . The journey down the motorways were boring . We were glad to leave them however the road to Cogolin was windy, narrow and we realised there was a better way but we had committed ourselves to this one . We felt a real sense of relief to arrive at our home for the next week . The rain is now falling as I sit in the open plan lounge and kitchen area. It all looks very nice and we look forward to the time away . However it does feel very different than holidays in the motorhome.
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Let us hope your weather...
is wonderful for the rest of your time on the Riviera!