Home again

We’re back from our hols. It was a good holiday. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, sunshine & warmth most of the time. The hotels were reasonably satisfactory.

 

We went on the Eurostar, our first endeavour on it. We started with a taxi into Lancaster, then a train down to Euston, London. We had been told by the Fox’s barber, that St Pancras station was only a 10 minute walk, not worth taking a taxi. We debated whether to try walking. As we had plenty of time until the next train we decided to try. To us it was a long walk. Fortunately it was downhill so I was able to push myself while the Fox coped with the luggage – one large suitcase on wheels & a shoulder bag. Nonetheless we concluded another time we would just get a taxi & we would certainly get one for the return uphill trip.

 

All went smoothly at St Pancras. We had a leisurely wait – as a disabled person requiring assistance I had to be there an hour before the train set off – a chance to restore ourselves for the next stage of the journey.

 

We arrived in Paris in time for evening rush hour. We got a taxi to Montparnasse & the nearby hotel. We had a brief look round & sorted out where we had to get to in the morning before finding somewhere to eat – French onion soup followed by confit de canard, very French.

 

Early next day we had chance for a bit of a stroll to see the Eiffel Tower ahead, before making our way to the station.

 

Eiffel Tower

 

Then it was to Montparnasse Station to go on to Tours in the Loire Valley. On the train I met a very nice French couple, mother & daughter. The daughter was also a wheelchair user. The conversation began as I prefer to stay in my chair while she preferred to transfer to another train seat. The booking had meant we both were allocated the seating space we didn’t prefer so we swapped over. She works at the Tours hospital as a samples analyst. She told me all the places to see. The trams she reckoned were great as far as access, the buses hit & miss.

 

We arrived at the hotel to be confronted with a set of steps. Our hearts sank. The Fox went inside to be told the disabled access was through the garage around the back. We eventually managed to get in.

 

It was quite a place, like something from another era, although the bedroom was thoroughly modern & one of the best equipped disabled rooms with plenty of space to move around in I’ve ever had.

 

The Tours hotel  lobby

 

After our week stay, we travelled back to Paris by train. We then stayed for 4 nights in a hotel just off the Place de la Madeleine. We chose this hotel as much for its location as anything else. The two places we really wanted to see on this trip were the Musée de l’Orangerie to see Monet’s water-lily series, the Nymphéas, and the Musée d’Orsay to see their modern art exhibition, especially the Impressionists. Both were within fairly reasonable walking distance of the hotel. We unaware of the former & the latter didn’t even existed when we last visited Paris over 40 years ago.

 

After that a fairly quick trip back on the Eurostar, taxi to Euston, train to Lancaster, taxi home.

 

It’s good to be home. We feel absolutely exhausted. The Fox must have walked miles pushing me around Tours & Paris. Since we’ve been home it’s been a case of a pile of washing to do, a mow of the lawn (it had shot up in our absence) & an endeavour to get on top of the weeds that had burst through the bark mulch. However, we have come back feeling stimulated by all that we have seen. It’s been an active & exciting holiday, one to look back on with fond memories.

 

Since then, & even while we were there, we’ve been debating our ideal holiday. We have to admit we’re not good at just sitting on a beach or around a pool, nor do we appreciate the average guided tour. We’ve come to the conclusion hiring a car is probably essential with the big exception of if we’re visiting a busy city such as Paris.

 

Hotels are not always the most relaxing places – you have to keep hotel hours for meals & clear the room for them to be cleaned. Often there’s no fridge for your own cheaper drinks. There’s not tea all day long - an essential for us except in tropical climes. Often there’s nowhere much just to relax to read, no facilities for playing music be it on the TV, radio or player. There’s a need to find somewhere to eat every day which gets a bit of a bore.

 

On the other hand, self-catering means shopping, cooking, washing up & cleaning, all of which are part of what we’ve wanted to get away from. Even though  we tell ourselves we can eat out every day, just as we would have to in a hotel, the temptation is to come back 5-6ish, & then conclude we might as well just cook something simple rather than make the effort to go out again when the restaurants open nearer 7pm.

 

The only time we’ve felt totally relaxed & content to do nothing much was when we went to St Lucia, but even there, we found the second hotel we stayed at less relaxing even if more sophisticated. It was obviously part of the atmosphere of that first particular hotel. There’s no ideal solution we can see.

 

We’re now debating what to do & where to go next year. We’re certainly tempted by the idea of going by train again, considerably more comfortable than going by air with more leg room for the Fox & I can stay in my chair rather than have the hassle of transferring. We’ll think on.