Rome                               8/9/2009

The medieval buttresses supporting the church of Saint Giovanni and Saint Paul. 

Saint Giovanni and Saint Paul. 

San Gregorio Magno al Celio

A corner of the Coliseum.

Our holiday is coming to an end and this is our very last blog. We finally arrived in lovely Rome and set up in our apartment near the Coliseum. After last January’s Rome apartment fiasco we were relieved to see the Apartment Mecenate 35 was as described on the website and we‘re very happy with it.


The weather is the warmest we have encountered on our trip. Bill is in meetings at FAO and Joy is enjoying wandering the streets. It is good to catch up with some old friends and eat our favourite Italian dishes, not to mention regular doses of gelato. The photos are some Joy took on the way to FAO to meet Bill this evening.


Friday we overnight in London, lashing out and staying at the Chesterfield, Mayfair.  We leave late on Saturday and arrive Monday morning in Australia.
So. sadly it’s is ciao from us.
                                                                Joy and Bill

A day trip to Giverny                      30/9/2009

On Tuesday we caught the train out to Vernon, then hired bikes to ride the 7 km to Giverny to visit Claude Monet’s home and garden. This was an ambition of Joy’s for years and she wasn’t disappointed. The house was interesting and the garden was magnificent and it was so thrilling to stand on the bridge that crosses the water lily pond. It was great to be on bikes again too. 

Claude Monet's House.

The Water lily Pond

On the bridge!!

When we got back to Paris we went to the Eiffel Tour to see the lights.

Right now we are on the overnight train to Rome - the trip from hell - 4 hours late.  We started in a rundown first class compartment but then the lights failed in the whole carriage and we ended in a 2nd class couchette.  There are a lot of unhappy travellers around!  We finished our (way overpriced) dinner about 11.30. We are now well south of Florence so it looks like we will make it into Rome sometime! Needless to say it’s an Italian train!  Hopefully we will be able to laugh about it in a couple of years time.

                         Paris         29/9/2009


Paris is fantastic. Our hotel, in St Germain, for four night turned out to be all we had hope for. We are on the top floor and have two small balconies, one of which has a table and chairs. The location on the Left Bank is working out well with many of the blockbuster sites with in a  walkable distance.
Our time has mainly been spend wandering and viewing art.

Water Lilies at the Marmottan Monet Museum.

View from the Musee d'Orsay. 

Cupid and Psyche at the Louvre

Van Gogh's The Siesta  at the Musee d'Orsay.    

We bought a museum pass and went to Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, the Concierge, Musee D’Orsa, the Lourve, the Orangery and up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. 
By the end of each day we were exhausted.

             Last days in Beynac     26/9/2009


Everyday starts with fog over the river which clears around 10 to become perfect weather. It’s wonderful to see.

The home of Francine and Michel

Francine and Michel, the owners of the little house we rent, are really nice people. They live next door and run an antique shop further down the hill. They have about as much English as we have French, but we manage to communicate quite well. 

One of Monpazier's alleyways.

They suggested we should visit Monpazier, south of the Dordogne. This turned out to be a classic fortified town with the medieval streets and alleyways virtually unchanged since it was founded in 1281. Its picturesque town square still has its medieval covered market intact, complete with grain measures.

La Roque St Christophe.

After a picnic lunch we back to the Vezere River to visit La Roque St Christophe. This is a huge rock, with 5 terraces carved out by the river, has provided shelter and protection for people for 50,000 years. It is now set up as it would have been when it was a medieval village.


The following day we left Beynac and drove to Limoges to catch the train to Paris. After all the raving we’ve done about the area, it will not be a surprise to hear that we were sad to leave.

                        A day on the river  23/9/2009

The Gabarre.

Thursday started with a river cruise on a reconstruction of a Gabarre - a nineteenth century flat bottom sailing barge used for sending goods down river, especially oak barrels to Bordeaux. These boats were actally the ones used by Johnny Deep in Chocolat. After that we rented a canoe and paddled 15km from Vitrac Port to Beynac. On way we stopped off for lunch at La Roque-Gageac, a one street town stretching along the river and looking like it has been sculptured out of the rock cliff behind it.

La Roque-Gageac from the canoe.

Beynac reflecting onto the Dordogne.

The trip was very peaceful especially because for a lot of the time we were the only people on the river. As we paddled into Beynac late afternoon the river was very still and the reflections were amazing.


That evening we went back to Sarlat for dinner in the main square. It was so beautiful, as the whole town is lit with gas light and there was also entertainment - a singer with a barrel organ, a fire dancer and a guitarist. The perfect end to a perfect day.

Sarlat at night.

Sarlat  21/9/2009

The market place.

Sarlat and it’s market was our next destination. Sarlat is the prefect medieval town with everything built in a lovely glowing golden stone.  








With the market winding around the traffic free streets and alleyways, it felt just right.  Note the golden ducks in the foreground in the courtyard photo.  This is an important area for producers of geese and ducks in the region, who make foie gras and other products like confits, pate, etc.

View across the Dordogne River from Castelnaud to Beynac.

In the afternoon we visited Domme, a little fortified 13 century town with stunning views high above the Dordogne River. Then it was on to Castelnaud and a tour of the Chateau which is also an armament museum. It was occupied by the British during the 100 years war and faces across the river to the castle at Beynac, which was occupied by the French. Once again, stunning views.

Another view over the Dordogne.

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Beynac on the Dordogne River, France        20/9/2009

View of Beynac from the river.

Early morning view from our windows.

On the terrace, overlooking the Dordogne River.

Beynac is a picture postcard medieval village that is built up a very steep hill, rising from the Dordogne River. It has an imposing castle up the top. One of the streets was used in the film Chocolat. Our little house for a week is about halfway up and is absolutely perfect. It is so peaceful and we have beautiful views of the Dordogne from the lounge, bedroom and terrace. We are looking forward to doing some of our own cooking and taking advantage of the fresh vegetables and fruit and lovely cheeses.


Sunday was a lazy day - we just pottered around, bought groceries, caught up on the washing etc. By Monday we were roaring and ready to go. We headed off through many picture perfect villages, stopping at Montignac for lunch and on to the fascinating caves Lauscaux 11. There are many limestone caves in the area with paintings and other evidence of pre-historic times. The Lauscaux 1 cave contains the worlds most famous cave paintings. It was accidentally discovered in1940 by some boys when their dog fell down a hole. Unfortunately, after 15 years of visitors, the real cave deteriorated so much that they have recreated a fake cave using the same materials and techniques as the original and that’s the one you visit today. Unfortunately you are not able to take photos in the caves.

Les Eyzies.

Next day, after visiting the markets at Le Bugue and picnicking in the forest, we went to see the real thing at Grotte de Rouffignac. Fantastic drawings of mammoths, horses, deer, bison etc. You go down the caves in an electric train. On the way home we stopped at a pretty village called Les Eyzies. It has caves with evidence of prehistoric activities above it.


That evening we had a wonderful meal at a restaurant in Beynac, sampling the local specialities, confit du canard, foie de gras and other duck specialities.

Travelling to the Dordogne, France         19/9/2009


We were glad when we finally arrived in France from Vienna.   As we feared, our airline went completely broke a week before and stopped flying altogether, so we booked a considerably more expensive set of flights via Dusseldorf with Berlin Air. When we arrived in Dusseldorf we found there would be a long delay and our flight wouldn’t be leaving until 7.30, so we took the opportunity to go into Dusseldorf. It is a work-a-day sort of town but it is on the Rhine and there is a small historic centre. The place is wall to wall bars and cafes and whole city seemed to be out having a long boozy Friday afternoon. There was also some sort of military display, a student demo, musical entertainment and even people making a movie on the rivers edge. All in all, it was moderately entertaining, but we wouldn’t add to your places to visit list.


We finally made it to Paris close to 10pm and picked up our hire car to head south.   We had a GPS so didn’t have much trouble getting out of Paris (taking the slow route), but let’s just say that we now know a lot more about how to use a GPS.  We finally stopped at a hotel about 11.30.


The next day we continued our drive south to Beynac, in the Dordogne, stopping off at Oradour-sur-Glane, or ‘Village des Martyrs'. This village has been left as is as a memorial, after the Nazis killed all the villagers (642) and destroyed the whole village during WW2, probably to revenge the death of one SS officer. It is a very moving sight.

    Vienna             18/9/2009

Thursday was our last cycling day. Fortunately is was only a short 2 hour ride to Krems to get the train into Vienna as it was raining quite heavily and we were all dripping by the time we got there. We were grateful that this was the only day the weather was against us.
By the time we reached our station in Vienna, the weather was clear and we were able to enjoy our final triumphant 4km ride along the Danube to our hotel. 

Statue of Mozart, who settled in Vienna in1781.

The photo is our last meal together before heading our separate ways the next day - Alexander to Paris, Debbie to the USA and us to Dordogne in France. 
It was sad to leave behind our bikes and each other but we were all heading off on new adventures. We all agreed that the 12 day ride was a terrific experience - how could it not be with all that freedom, fresh air, getting fit and great company. We are already thinking about our next cycle tour.

Spitz  16/9/2009

View of Spitz from the hill.

The town is surrounded by grape vines, as well as all sorts of  fruit trees.

At Spitz the next day we split up to do various hikes. Alexander did an enormous hike through the steep hills. Debbie did quite long hike as well. We visited the church which was for once Gothic and much more understated than the churches we had seen previously. We loved this row of sculptures of the saints. Then we went on a short hike up a hill to the top of the town and after lunch walked to a really good museum dealing with the history of shipping on the Danube.














It was a lovely day but we were all glad to be back together in the evening for our glass (or two) of sturm on the hotel terrace then inside for dinner.

Melk and Spitz      15/9/2009

The library of Melk Monastery.

Alexander outside the monastery library.

Tuesday we headed off in sunshine to Spitz where we were to spend two nights. On the way we did a tour of the Baroque Monastery at Melk - probably the most beautiful in Austria and we were lucky to be able to attend midday singing and prayers. It also has a beautiful library.


After that, a lot of the cycling was inland through fruit growing areas and vineyards - very beautiful and peaceful scenery. This is the Wachau Valley, the famous wine growing region.


We stopped along the way to visit the site of the discovery of the Wilhousen Venus - a prehistoric stone figure unearthed when the railway was being built. We also stopped occasionally to help ourselves to apples, pears, grapes, plums and walnuts, all along the side of the path.

























Finally we arrived at our accommodation at Spitz, and like most of our hotels, it was along the banks of the Danube.

Our Days


16/9/2009














We have fallen into a regular pattern of riding/sightseeing for a couple of hours before morning coffee then riding off again, usually having a lateish picnic lunch by the river before arriving at our hotel around 4. We average around 45 km per day and we cope well with that. We use ferries and bridges to swap from bank to bank a fair bit, in search of sights or our hotel or because one side of the river is more scenic or has a better bike path. 
The maps and instructions we were provided with are excellent and the ride is well signposted anyway.


The scenery has been very varied from forests, meadows, farmland, etc and the sights have been too. Even the churches vary a bit - from baroque to even more baroque to totally over the top theatrical rococo, as in the Cistercian Monastery at Wilhering in the photo. The houses look like they are straight from a book of fairytales. 


 There is a nice camaraderie between cyclists too, most of whom are from Germany or Austria and mostly grey nomad types at this time of the year. It’s embarrassing if you get passed by a group of octogenarians as we did earlier on. Debbie lived and studied in Vienna when she was young so her German is very helpful and she’s improving every day as it comes back to her.



The food doesn’t vary much - potatoes, knodel, wiener schnitzel, pork dishes and very ordinary salads. We crave for more vegies. We are enjoying the sturm (the still fermenting wine available at this time of the year) the beer and the local wine, Gruner Vetltlinger. The coffee has been declared terrible.