Author archive
13 July 2025
Final exploration of Rome I enjoyed my short stay in Rome. Temperatures were good day and night as long as I stayed out of the sun. But I felt that Rome was more expensive than Paris this time. I felt the sting with the strong Euro against the Kiwi dollar. After my short stay, I […]
12 July 2025
Vatican Museum E left around 0330 and I fell back asleep, waking around 0600. I thought I’d beat the crowd by heading out early, around 0700, after some muesli. Since I got into the Vatican Museum free last time, I thought it would be OK for me to go again and pay this time. And […]
11 July 2025
Minor errand A friend E arrived to stay with me, knocking on my door at 0130. His flight had been delayed by an hour but he made good time getting off the plane onto the last bus at 0030 to Termini. We slept in till 0900 and headed out around 1030 to the area around […]
10 July 2025
Departing Paris My flight from Paris Orly airport departs at 0905 and I had overnighted at the B&B Hotel Paris Italie Porte de Choisy because it is on a direct line to the airport, with relatively few stops. But with disruption to that line yesterday, I decided to wake at 0515 to allow time for […]
9 July 2025
Getting to Paris Today I leave Rennes for Paris, for an overnight there in order to make a morning flight the next day. My hotel was opposite Rennes station which made the 0748 train a breeze to catch. The direct service got me to Paris Montparnasse at 0945. My intention was to explore Paris but […]
8 July 2025
There wasn’t much that was “must see” in Rennes. That was a nice feeling. I could just enjoy being there, wandering around and enjoying the beauty of some of the buildings and whatever else I could find. In my little exploration I found the Palace of St George (formerly an abbey), the City Hall, quite […]
7 July 2025
Yesterday Yesterday turned out to be a spare day, having done everything a little bit ahead of plan. Just as well, as the weather was drizzly and my short excursion to the old town was a little damp. The highlight of the day was probably my final gym workout and doing my laundry at […]
5 July 2025
Dinan The weather turned grey today but remained dry as I headed out to the nearby towns of Dinard and Dinan, which I keep getting mixed up. I bought the bus ticket to Dinan on the app, which would require me to transfer in Dinard where I could explore briefly. The bus timings were too […]
4 July 2025
Getting to Mont St Michel I woke early after an awesome uninterrupted night sleep, without having to descend the steep ladder for use of the toilet. Today, I head to Mont St Michel for a revisit after 18 years. I bought a fresh baguette and prepared a packed lunch to bring along for the daytrip. […]
3 July 2025
Going separate ways Today, Kim commences his journey back to New Zealand with a flight from Paris CDG to Haneda on standby while I take the train to St Malo. My train is at 1030 while his was at 1300. He walked me to the station where we said goodbye. The 2h journey from Le […]