100 days

[OZDUCK]

Lovely photos and brought back good memories of walking along the, then, Promenade Plante, and in the Bois de Vincennes. In fact, we have a large photo my wife took of mist over the Bois de Vincennes lake hanging in our family room. Our hotel was just down the road a bit in Avenue Daumesnil

 

[turtlemichael]

I'll put up some comments on the Hilton La Defense in the next couple of days. I really like the hotel though not so much the area it's in. It is fairly soulless particularly at night and on weekends.
The strange building which houses the Hilton La Defense.


along the 4 kilometres to the Arch de Triomphe.


Apparently the French think this, "Le Pouce", outside the Hilton, is a phallic symbol. Looks to me like a thumb!

 

[turtlemichael]

Some more shots around Paris today.

 

[turtlemichael]

When you come to Paris you go to the Opera - well, at least I do!!! We saw Cosi Fan Tutte last night at the Opera Garnier, the old Paris Opera House. It dates from 1875 and is an amazing work of art in itself. The Chagall ceiling in the auditorium is spectacular. It's well worth a tour, if not an opera or ballet, on a visit to Paris. As for the opera, it was a starkly modern production that worked very well and will live in the memory for very long time.

 

[turtlemichael]

Well the brief Paris sojourn is almost at an end. We get Eurostar to London at 11.00am tomorrow (Wednesday) for an overnight then Virgin Atlantic to Hong Kong. Nice day today again. I walked in a little over an hour and a half from La Defense to Concorde then back to The Arch de Triomphe where we saw the movie Dunkirk, or here it is "Dunkerque". Then it was back to the hotel to rest the feet and out to dinner on Ledru Rollin at an old favourite local of ours, Bistrot du Coin. The restaurant has changed owners in the last year and has improved a lot. Definite good value in Paris - 3 courses for each of us and a bottle of Bordeaux for 66 euros.


Aubergine and tomato tart at Bistrot du Coin. Pretty good for 5.50 euros.

We have enjoyed our stay at Hilton La Defense despite the marginal negative of its location. Everything is a metro ride (though i walked today). We were upgraded from a standard king to a relaxation room which appears to be just a larger version of the king. But it has a great bed, serviceable shower and plenty of room. The staff has been great for their friendliness and helpfulness and that is a real plus for this hotel. We had one lunch here and that was fine. Not that we would have used it but their restaurant is not open for dinner at the moment. I think that that may be because it is still summer break for many but a Hilton, in an area without too many restaurants at night, is a bit of a surprise.

Apart from the staff, the other highlight was the breakfasts which were uniformly excellent. They had some of the best pastries and croissants I've had.

Again, I'd happily return here on a short Paris visit.

 

[turtlemichael]

A quick trip across the Channel (or rather, under the Channel) on Eurostar to London,

a check-in, for the second time on this trip, to Hilton Bankside, and an afternoon tea in the EL,

and a wander around the City.

 

[turtlemichael]

The last day in London has come and gone and now we are waiting for VS206 to Hong Kong in the VS Lounge in Terminal 3 at Heathrow. I started with an early morning walk from the Hilton Bankside across Southwark Bridge and up to Lincoln's Inn Fields then back along the Thames Path to the Tower and Tower Bridge and returning to the hotel via just starting up Borough Market and Southbank. It was easy going without the usual crowds. I'll put up some pics of the VS lounge when we get to Hong Kong but, in the meantime, here are some pics from this morning. All up, it took about 90 minutes with photo stops.

 

[turtlemichael]

We had a couple of hours in the Heathrow T3 Virgin Atlantic lounge. It's a very good lounge particularly when not so busy like last night.

 

[turtlemichael]

Looks like we are nearly home.

 

[turtlemichael]

Hong Kong in September. Good excuse to watch the grand Final this afternoon.

 

[turtlemichael]

We flew LHR-HKG on VS206. It was a very new 787 Dreamliner, our first time on a VS version. The plane was in excellent condition and the seat/bed were very comfortable with a thickish mattress and doona.

I ate in the Lounge before hand and was intent on getting the maximum sleep I could. I managed about 5 hours which, for me, was pretty good. The OH had dinner and photographed it for me - by all accounts I made the right decision to eat in the Lounge. The breakfast, according to the OH, was a good deal better than the dinner. The bacon photo fortunately does not do it justice!

Service was brusque, not to put too fine a point on it.

 

[turtlemichael]

I think the breakfast in the restaurant at Conrad Hong Kong is one of the best going. And, in general, it is more peaceful and less crowded than in the EL.

 

[turtlemichael]

Some shots around Hong Kong, from the Conrad and within walking distance,with the sun out.

 

[turtlemichael]

Well here we are at the end of Day 98. The rain has tumbled down for most of it. We had originally planned to have a couple of days in Macao but changed out minds when we decided that we needed a bit of down time. Given the weather it was probably a good decision. Most of Macao and lots of China seems to have come to Hong Kong in this holiday season. The lounge at the Conrad has been overrun with kids or maybe I am just getting old and cranky!

For our last dinner here, apart from something to eat in the Cathay lounge tomorrow night, we ventured only as far as the food court under the Conrad on the way to Admiralty MTR. There is a Thai restaurant there called Basil Thai (not Basil Fawlty) which is very cheap by Hong Kong standards. We were told when we arrived that we have 45 minutes "then you go" . That is all we needed. There was nothing genuinely Thai about it but it was all tasty and fun.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

TM, what sort of travel insurance have you got for 100 days of travel in one hit ??

 

[turtlemichael]

A QBE policy - credit card insurance was not adequate in my estimate. (although it would have been as we didn't need it!)

 

[turtlemichael]

Day 99 starts brightly in Hong Kong.

 

[turtlemichael]

On our last day in Hong Kong and before we check out from the Conrad, we wandered around Wan Chai Market, which certainly had a lot of local colour! The Starbucks coffee was from the Reserve shop on Queensway. I have to say it was good for any coffee, let alone Starbucks! Now the time has come to pack and park in the lounge to fill in a few hours before heading to the airport.

 

[turtlemichael]

In the Cathay Bridge Business Lounge. It's fairly deserted.

 

[turtlemichael]

Day 100. CX105 was, after a false start, a good flight. We left the gate at 00.08, two minutes early but after 10 minutes of taxiing we came to a halt. A few minutes later came the ominous announcement from the pilot: "We have a bit of an engine problem so it is back to the gate for us". We eventually got away 90 minutes later and reached Melbourne just an hour late. I didn't eat dinner choosing to maximise sleep which I did quite successfully. I got a good 6-7 hours waking just in time for breakfast.

So we are home and the 100 days seems to have gone in a flash. There are so many highlights for me from this trip - the Lakes District, the cruise itself, dashing around on a small boat among icebergs in Greenland, the Stratford ON theatre festival, some great meals and catching up with several groups of friends. It will live long in the memory.

Of course, now the planning for the next couple starts in earnest. I've got a month or so of dashing round the country following the Ashes tour but the first overseas trip is mid-February - early April to South Africa to follow the Australian cricketers around with side trips to Mauritius, the Drakensberg, the Garden Route and the Cape wine district. We finish off with a month in Italy through April.

Next comes a Silversea cruise Jan-May 2019 from San Francisco to London via the Pacific, Australia, Asia and Africa with little add-ons at either end. All of this is subject to good health and, maybe, the Donald.

Thanks for the feedback and best of travels to everyone.