and that was that.

We’re home.

Le Shuttle wasn’t very busy yesterday.  In fact, although we had a 2.40pm booking, we were offered places on the 13.20pm train which suited us very well indeed.

After all, there is only so much one can do in Carrefour.

And so, laden with all the good times and a few new travellers’ tales to add to the collection, we boarded the train for home.

 

Just over half an hour later, there we were.

Well, nearly.  Of course, there was the M25 to negotiate and the lady who has been telling us where to go ever since we left home nearly three weeks ago was only warning of a fourteen minute delay on our route.  So, we dropped Edward off at Ashford, to catch his train into London and we continued home.

Another great trip to add to the collection! 

Four countries in a day

Did you guess?  We set off from Trier this morning, bright and breezy and in no time at all, we were crossing the border.  Please, be impressed by the efficiency with which we can pack the car these days – not a square inch is lost!

Anyway, here we were in Luxemburg and with time to spare, we thought we’d take a closer look.

We parked by a statue of some jolly Luxembourgers though once again, our search for a blue accessible parking space was thwarted.  What happened to European legislation on this side of the Channel, eh?

We followed the walking tour suggested by the tourist office and tried hard to think of a famous Luxembourger.  Famous Belgians?  We can name a few.  But who could we think of from the Grand Duchy?  Sadly, no-one came to mind, so when we encountered two young women from the tourist office standing outside the palace, wearing “Ask me a question” jackets, we did exactly that.  They could name only the heir to the Duchy, Guillaume and his wife Stephanie and what’s more, I was admonished by my hero for asking a question which could only emphasise the lowly status of the country in terms of world rankings.  Needless to say, that could not be further from our intentions and actually, Mary and I had an interesting conversation with the pair of them, learning about what’s great about growing up as a Luxembourger.  Great education, they said!

From the terraces by the modern Palace of Justice, there was a fine view of the lower city, reminding us all of Quebec.  It was a lovely place to spend a few minutes in the sunshine.

 

A little further along, I spotted this column in the distance and zoomed in to take a photograph, thinking I’d find out more later.  I haven’t found out anything yet and have no idea who she is, but I hope that whoever she is going to drop that cream pie on is ready and prepared for it!!

Our next stop was the cathedral with a collection of interesting and curiously shaped spires.

My eyes went immediately to the ceiling.

Then to the stained glass, both old

and new. (ish)

We were curious about the language – meng stad, especially when I spotted the three dots above the M in Luxemburg.  Is it a real linguistic form or a mere advertising gimmick?  Need to know (and will find out…but not now!)

Time was moving on and we needed to be on our way.  We hit the road again and passed into Belgium without further ado.  Not really a great deal to say about that.

The roads were pretty busy and there were quite a few heavy lorries making driving a challenge for my hero, but he coped of course!  Filling the car was another matter, since for some reason, the filling station demanded pre-payment – not that they explained that to anyone first, of course.  The result was that several people were trying to get the pumps to work with no success at all and there was much shrugging of shoulders and puzzled expressions until we heard the magic words “il faut prepayer” or whatever. 

Tiens!

Even the French pair at the pump beside us were perplexed and for once, there was a distinct entente-cordiale in this part of the filling station.  Doesn’t take much more than a weird Belgian practice to foster that, then!

Shortly afterwards, we were in France and almost at our destination: Lille.

Our hotel is near – almost in – the Grand Place and the decor so bold that I’m a little worried that the triffid will give me a hug in the night.  Hopefully, George and the other travelling companions will keep an eye on it.

The view is pretty good though.

We spent the afternoon wandering about and since Mary hasn’t been here before, we saw things through new, Californian eyes.  Yes, it is indeed a pretty spectacular place.

Of course, we’ve shopped at La Droguerie, too.

Our last dinner of the trip was rather smarter than we’ve been accustomed to of late, at L’Ecume des Mers.  Had I not ordered two courses which needed much mircosurgery and excavation, then we too would have been smart.  Still, the crab and the huge prawns were delicious and I’m sure no-one really noticed the splatter marks on my clothes (and on those around me)  as we left.

Goodnight from Lille!

Strasbourg

Time to explore this fine city this morning and so we set off in the direction of the old town.

We were delighted that the sun came out and as we stood on the Ponts Couverts we heard a vehicle so stood aside, only for it to park right beside us.

Now what a view!

More than a little patience was needed as delivery vans came from all directions to negotiate these old, narrow streets; we guessed that there was some kind of curfew.

It made wandering around a little more of a challenge and we began to get irritated that wherever we stepped, we seemed to be in the way.

We decided to leave these four to sort it out amongst themselves and went off in the opposite direction to find a quieter spot.

In the cathedral all was a little more calm and reflective.  Turning the corner to see this magnificent structure last evening was magical and stepping inside proved to be equally breathtaking.

We loved the scale of the place, the cool dark corners and the vast height of the nave.

How's this for a door hinge?

 Above the souvenir shops and cafes, there are some lovely corners to spot.

I had the Musee des Arts Decoratifs to myself as Mark and Edward went off into the Archaeological Museum upstairs and though there were quite a few interesting items on display, it's wasn't exactly my kind of place

Nor my kind of exhibit.

So we went shopping.

On parle Francais

But it's awfully hard after three weeks of thinking in German. 

We left Ponte Tresa after breakfast, the lake shimmering in the morning sunshine and told ourselves that we should come back, soon.

It was a surprisingly easy drive, through the Gotthard tunnel and across Switzerland on mostly familiar territory.  We made a stop near Luzern to sit and gaze at green pastures, the mountains and take in the atmosphere we love so much - our last chance for a while.

For in no time at all, we were in Strasbourg and the driving over for the day, we could sit and relax and hope the rain held off long enough for us to stay dry.  It didn't, but we didn't really mind.

We'll come back tomorrow, in better light, to take in more details of the cathedral, but couldn't resist spotting these charming horses, peeping through the openings.

Edward noticed this amusing gargoyle who seemed to be calling to us about something.  Reminding us to speak French not German, perhaps.

 because there's no doubt, we are in France!

Perhaps some of that wallpaper will find its way into our brains as we sleep and we'll wake up more in tune?

Peut-être.

Oder?

Such style

 So, if three crafty friends arrive in Paris shortly after lunchtime and check in to their hotel in Les Halles, where is their first destination? 

No question. 

Surprisingly quiet.  So much so that for the first time ever, an assistant approached me and asked if she could help!  Altogether different from the times when the queue has been out of the door and a whole morning has been needed to make the simplest of purchases.

Anyway, it was a great way of warming ourselves up and getting our brains into French (un petit peu). Next stop Mokuba for a drool over their luscious ribbons.  Decisions were bravely taken to resist buying any of the gorgeous ribbons and braids, whether they were of the €7/m or €75/m variety.  We reminded each other of all the little packages of such things were still in drawers at home in spite of so many good intentions and satisfied ourselves that we were leaving them for someone else to enjoy.

As we walked though the streets towards Le Louvre, we found ourselves dipping into almost every other shop like excited children.  We were drawn into the Arcade Vivienne by a million twinkly lights as dusk fell, and by the time we reached Le Louvre, the brightly coloured afternoon had transformed into a deep blue and gold evening.

Aperitif time, then and a quick change before dinner.  Difficult to believe the fun had only just started.

We'd decided to get to Le Grande Halle in the Parc De la Villette early on Friday morning, and joined a long queue about fifteen minutes before the show opened.  But organisation was non existent, and shortly after the doors opened, we found ourselves in a huge scrum reminiscent of boarding a school bus.  The French woman in front of us turned to apologise "Sorry, we French don't queue like the English".

It was ridiculous really - grown women who were quite capable of seeing there was room for only two people to go through the door at one time, having queued for half an hour or more in an orderly line suddenly lost all sense and took the "every woman for herself" strategy, taking far longer to achieve their goal in the process.  There was all kinds of pushing and shoving too - this was no patient shuffle.

Oh la la.

Once inside, we were treated to a beautifully classy set of stands, the understated theme of which appeared to be red and ecru - a touch of Christmas, a traditional stitched style which was completely different from the wildly creative, riot of colour we experienced at the Ally Pally recently.

My favourites included the stand shown above, which had such a lovely range of buttons and things imaginatively used.  The Maison Sajou collection was a fascinating variety of beautifully packaged bits and pieces and the Briteafil stand was a great example of the simple technique done well. 

And of course this was one reason why we were interested in coming here.  So fascinating to see a fresh, new set of ideas, especially displayed with such style, such taste - so chic!

The room sets created from the projects in the latest edition of Marie Claire Idees were fascinating, giving a glimpse into how these articles come about.  The styling here was more adventurous, more colourful and though not always to our taste, it was lively, colourful and the exquisite items were beautifully staged.

The crowds did not always behave in a similarly impeccable fashion.  At times, we gave up and moved on, thinking we could return when there was less of a scrum.  Refreshed by a good lunch at a Brasserie across the road, we returned after lunch with renewed energy and it was almost 4pm when we decided we'd had enough and armed with a few more bags than we'd started with, we returned to our hotel for a bit of a rest before aperitifs and dinner.

Our return tickets were for the 1615 train, so we had plenty of time to spend a morning exploring Les Grands Magasins and though I was determined to keep this blog Christmas-free until December, I can't resist sharing this magnificent tree in the centre of Galeries Lafayette.

We poured ourselves onto the train after a great lunch by Gare du Nord and enjoyed a last bottle of champange as we sped under the channel.  A train full of football and rugby fans to Swindon soon brought me back to earth!