France – Wayfaring: Still

Epilogue – Europe Honeymoon

April 23, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

Expectations were feverishly high because it was after all (pricey!) Europe and well… our honeymoon. The honeymoon. One may travel to many places in his entire lifetime and promptly forget about some of these places several moons later, but nobody forgets the honeymoon.

As luck would have it, our honeymoon turned out to be nothing short of perfect. The itinerary was unsurpassed, the tour leader unrivalled, and the company unparalleled. Our group was manageably small with only 19 adults including 3 other pairs of honeymoon-ers like us, and everyone was pleasant, jovial and considerate.

If anything, I only have two minor grouses – we didn’t get to see much of Rome and totally missed out on Vatican City because of late Pope John Paul II’s funeral. I also didn’t particularly enjoy the incessant rain, in which we were told was not in congruence with Europe’s usual climate in April. I didn’t remember this, but the mister recalled that the rain started shortly after we landed in Rome, and only stopped after our day trip to Volendam in The Netherlands. He knew it for a fact that it wasn’t raining prior to 8 Apr 2005 because of a colleague who left Rome the day we arrived – apparently it was the only day which rained in the week she was there.

We were in Volendam on 19 Apr 2005 having our dinner of fish & chips when our Italian coach driver (who is a Roman Catholic) announced that the new Pope had been elected. It was raining bucketfuls of cats and dogs prior to dinner, but reduced to a drizzle when we were done with our scrumptious dinner. By the time we arrived at our hotel, the rain had completely stopped.

Was it a coincidence, or was there divine ‘intervention’? The oddity of the rainy season occurring within the period of sede vacante (Latin for ‘the seat being vacant’) of the Holy See, which promptly ended with the cessation of sede vacante – seemed to suggest that it was more than mere coincidence. We are not deeply pious people, but… it was some food for thought.

Our honeymoon coincided with the funerals of late Pope John Paul II and Prince Rainier III of Monaco, and the wedding of Prince Charles & Camilla Bowles. As you could see, we visited Europe during a very, for lack of a better word, interesting time. The trip was quite the eye-opener – we learnt how and why a papal conclave is convened, the difference between white smoke versus black smoke, Grace Kelly (not the bag!) and the House of Grimaldi from the Principality of Monaco. Speculations on the identity of the next Pope and expostulations on the sovereignty of Monaco considering Prince Albert II’s lack of a lawful heir totally preponderated the European, if not the world’s, prime time news. The media were having a series of field days.

We thought that Jeffrey Hoh, our tour leader, is the very epitome of an exceptional tour leader. He totally blew our minds with his experience, general knowledge, even temper and high level of service orientation. Following Jeffrey’s tradition of bestowing every tour group with a specific name (to distinguish all the groups he’d ever led), our group was aptly titled ’2 Funerals & a Wedding’. He professed that it would be difficult to forget our group given the unusual events facing Europe during our travel. He held true to his words, because several years later, he found and added the both of us as his friends on Facebook.

Regrettably, we’d lost contact with almost everyone in the group, with the exception of Kenneth and Sharon. If you are, or know any of our group-mates from the picture above, please email us at tenodddays[at]gmail[dot]com. We’d love to re-connect!

‘Of all the countries you visited, which is your favourite?’

We got asked this question umpteen times, by friends and family alike, following our return to reality. Not trying to play favourites here… but we have to concede that we enjoyed Italy the most. Something about the Italians’ honest charm, warmth and gregariousness tugged at my heartstrings – possibly because being reticent and bashful by nature, I couldn’t be more different than they are. The mister readily agreed with me, for an entirely different reason, I suspect – he had been raving incessantly about the unlimited potently flavoursome shots of espresso he got to enjoy at breakfasts in Italy.

Check out CTC Travel if you would like to trace our footsteps. While we do not sanction a package tour for seasoned travellers, we highly recommend it for virgin travellers (to Europe) who have no inkling of their travel likes and peeves, as a starting point.

Paris The City of Lights

April 17, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay,
I heard the laughter of her heart in every street café.
– Oscar Hammerstein II

Paris, the City of Lights. Certainly every die-hard romantic’s dream honeymoon destination. And since we were on our honeymoon, we envisaged Paris to be the highlight of our tour. Of course, it ended up that almost all destinations during our honeymoon turned out to be highlights in their own right.

It was a long way to travel from Lucerne to Paris; we ended up spending better half of the day in the coach. The moment we arrived, we engaged in the most touristy activity possible – a boat tour along River Seine, the river which divides Paris into the Left Bank and Right Bank. The Left Bank (French: La Rive Gauche) is situated on the southern side of the Seine and is by far the smaller section of Paris. It is also known for its artistic and intellectual life. The Right Bank (French: La Rive Droit) to the north of the river, on the other hand, represents the aristocratic privileged class and their expensive districts. While the distinction between the two banks is less applicable nowadays, most of Paris’ big businesses, banks and tourist attractions are located on this larger section. But I digressed.

Musee dOrsay — *The Musée d’Orsay from our cruise on River Seine.*

As night fell, we froze out in the open (it was early spring after all) on the upper deck of the river boat, all for the hope of having a glimpse of the global icon of France – the Eiffel Tower. We were told we would only have a short few seconds of capturing both the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty near Pont de Grenelle together, and so I tried to warm my stiff hands and prepare for the big moment. Only to have the DSLR fail me. Or rather, to have my photo-taking skills fail me: a Point-and-Shoot, an entry-level DSLR, or a professional camera, will take photographs only as good as the photographer’s skills, to a large extent.

So we couldn’t get any decent shots of the Eiffel Tower together with the Statue of Liberty. Or any shots of the tower during the light show on the hour. Night photography and a moving river boat? Worst combination ever for most amateur photographers, myself included. My advice is, be on solid ground when you attempt to take pictures of the tower, and if shooting from afar, use a tripod or at least prop on some sort of support. It would save you a lot of heartache. In short, just relax and enjoy the river cruise without the burden of trying to take pictures because it is indeed to best way to see Paris. One of these Seine river cruises takes about an hour to complete, and costs about 13,00€ for an adult ticket.

We had a crazy schedule the following day. Somehow within the waking hours, we covered most of the famous sights in Paris and then some: we saw the Luxor Obelisk at Place de la Concorde, took pictures in front of Ritz Paris, came up close and personal with Arc de Triomphe, strolled along Avenue des Champs-Élysées and scaled The Eiffel Tower. On top of that, we somehow till found time to visit Château de Versailles, Musée du Louvre and sit through a 10-course French dinner. How we managed to achieve all that is now quite beyond my comprehension.

As a result of this whirlwind sightseeing schedule, we didn’t have the luxury of time to scale Arc de Triomphe for the awesome overview of Avenue des Champs-Élysées. More importantly, I didn’t get to explore Musée du Louvre, or visit Notre Dame Cathedral. To say that I left Paris laden with a heart heavy of regrets would be a gross understatement.

Mid-April is a wonderful time to visit Paris. Although still a magnet for multitude of tourists, it is considerably less crowded than the more popular summer months.

Throughout our tour, we were warned of gypsy ladies who would, on the surface be begging for money as a ruse while on the sly, have a partner pickpocket the valuables when the unsuspecting victim was distracted. I must say we were quite fortunate not to have met many of them along the way. That was till our stay in Paris. Along Avenue des Champs-Élysées near Arc de Triomphe, we were suddenly swarmed by unkempt, dark-skinned women dressing like gypsies while we were taking pictures. We could barely understand their speech, and tried our best to ignore them while concentrating on photographing the famous monument. Our tour leader was on an exceptionally alert mode as a result. Because there were so many of us in the group, he decided to play safe by chasing the gypsy ladies away instead of trying to watch all of them like a hawk. Strangely enough, his single Italian word ‘Via!’ was sufficient to convey his message. Seeing how they were not going to make any headway with our group, they moved on to another group of tourists. I hope none of them had fallen prey.

TRIVIA:
The Eiffel Tower, nicknamed the Iron Lady, is named after engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Standing at 320m, the tower’s design was met with widespread disdain and it was even criticised to be an eyesore that ruined the beautiful skyline of the city. Today, many recognise the romantic icon of Paris, but lesser know that it was never meant to be a permanent fixture. The emerging field of radio telegraphy saved it from dismantlement in 1909 and as the cliché goes, the rest is history.

Playground of the Rich & Famous

April 13, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

Our next destination brought us to the French Riviera (French: Côte d’Azur), the southeast Mediterranean coastline off France. Due to its hot summers and mild winters, the French Riviera started out as a playground and vacation spot for European aristocrats who would temporarily move southwards to eschew the cold, bitter winters in the north. Now, the region has become a fashionable tourist destination, especially for the rich and famous. It is said that many celebrities own houses in the region.

The first stop – Parfumerie Fragonard at Grasse. Fragonard started out as ‘a novel concept of selling perfumery products directly to tourists who were beginning to discover the French Riviera’s charms’ and has remained remarkably true to its initial business concept since almost 80 years ago.

We were walked around the historic perfume factory by an English-speaking guide. The complementary tour was brief but most informative – we learnt a fair bit about the perfume production process, the three notes and how eau de toilette differs from eau de parfume. Our tour ended at the store, and being typical tourists, we bought quite a few items after perusing the merchandise.

Nice Panorama — *What a lovely panoramic view of Nice!*

The drive along the narrow, curvy and hilly roads flanking the Mediterranean Sea continued till we reached a pseudo pit stop which gave us an awesome vantage view of Nice (pronounced as ‘niece‘, not nice). Reluctantly we returned to the coach when our tour leader reminded us that time was running out and that our driver would like to arrive at Nice before the evening rush hour drove drones of cars up the hilly roads. As it is, the roads are difficult enough to navigate without impatient drivers. Little wonder it is said that driving on the Riviera is reserved only for the very brave.

Our coach driver’s wish was granted – we arrived at Nice safe and sound well ahead of the evening rush hour. After checking into what we would deem to be the worst accommodation throughout the tour, we were back at the lobby in a jiffy. The room was dark, small and came complete with a musty smell; we couldn’t wait to get out. It was so bad we were most disinclined to return after dinner and a night stroll, but we didn’t relish wandering about the whole night and possibly getting rounded up by the authorities for suspicious behaviour. I stayed awake for most part of the night.

We had one full day dedicated to the French Riviera, and the places to cover included Monaco, Saint-Paul de Vence and Cannes (pronounced as ‘kan‘, not cans). For the first time in days, we saw the sun peeking out of the clouds, and rejoiced. We embraced the respite from the cool, rainy weather in Italy, however short it might be.

Monte Carlo, one of Monaco’s administrative areas, is synonymous with the Monte Carlo Casino and Circuit de Monaco (of the F1 Monaco Grand Prix). Apparently you could in fact drive most part of the Grand Prix Circuit if you choose to drive into Monaco, but do not attempt to race or you could run into some serious trouble with the police.

Casino Monte Carlo — *Casino de Monte-Carlo.*

Admittedly, we have very little interest in gambling and casinos, but were suitably impressed with the several Ferrari and Lamborghini sighted outside, and the little park situated across the road from the casino. Playground of the rich and famous indeed.

After a quick lunch, we headed for Saint-Paul de Vence, one of the oldest and best-preserved medieval towns in the French Riviera. This charming hilltop-fortified quaint little town somehow houses an astonishing number of art galleries. Even if you are not quite an art afficionado, it would be as pleasurable an afternoon sitting at a sidewalk cafe sipping coffee or tea.

The cobblestoned roads and streets at Saint-Paul de Vence are so narrow that no cars can pass so be prepared to do some walking, with good sensible walking shoes.

Last but not the least, we dropped by Cannes fully expecting to be blown away by the host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. Well, do not expect Cannes to be ‘dressed up to the nines’ as it appeared to be on live telecasts of the renowned film festival, for the Cannes we saw was anything but. In fact, I did a double take and looked to the mister for re-confirmation. Without the red carpet and the bling-blings (from the female guests to the festival) playing with the lights and our eyes, I must say that Cannes was rather… underwhelming.

In Cannes — *The power of Hallyu, all the way in Cannes.*

That said, all one need to do is to walk around and you would find that Cannes is more than able to hold its own without the festival for city is also about luxury boutiques, restaurants, hotels and more.

I really liked the French Riviera, in part because it reminded me much of Singapore’s balmy weather, without the unbearably high humidity. The best of both worlds, so to speak.