Author: dapperdaveanddinkydi

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Bilbao, Spain – home of the Guggenheim Museum

We weren’t supposed to be here until tomorrow but the weather interfered. We can’t complain. We’ve had beautiful weather every day until now even though it was cold in Paris. We missed Biarritz but have an extra day here in Bilbao.

The port provides shuttle buses into the centre of town. It is about a thirty minute drive but it was an interesting drive and there were plenty of buses. So it was an efficient operation.

Bilbao is in the Spanish Basque Country as is San Sebastián where we spent a little over a week in 2014 at the end of our 45 day train trip around Spain. We loved wandering the old town of San Sebastián (Donostia), eating pintxos and washing them down with txakoli, the fresh new wine of the area which is poured from high above the glass.

So today we were back in Basque Country and we set out to wander the old town, eat pintxos and drink txakoli. We had a great time. There are some lovely old buildings in the old town here. David gets so excited when he sees the rows and rows of jamon hanging in the stores. Our lunch of pintxos with a glass of txakoli each cost us about A$30 and was delicious. Our only disappointment was the waiter just poured our wine in the normal way rather than from 40cms or so above the glass.

We don’t enjoy modern art. We love the impressionists and we’ve see many magnificent paintings in the last two weeks so we were not interested in going into the Guggenheim museum but everyone raves about it so we went to check out the titanium building. It’s an interesting shape but, again, not our thing. I did love the floral dog made with pansies, violas and heartsease. It was impressive.

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Polo Grill Delights

Last night it was our turn to dine in the Polo Grill on Marina and we dined very well indeed. We had asked to share our table with others as we love meeting new people over dinner. Unfortunately the people who were meant to share with us must have been late back on board and didn’t turn up. The night before we shared with two other couples and the conversation was excellent. One man was a retired FBI agent and the other had worked on the Voyager space program.

Nevertheless we did enjoy our dinner. Check it out: onion soup, whole lobster and hand made marshmallows in three different sauces for me; Tomato and onion salad, steak and apple crumble for David.

As you can see, dinner was delicious.

Today we were meant to be at Biarritz and having a tour of Biarritz and the Basque Coast but the weather was too rough for us to be able to be taken ashore by tender so we bypassed Biarritz and are now in Bilbao, Spain where we will have an extra day. We are off exploring now.

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Difficult decisions at Red Ginger

On Oceania ships the specialty restaurants are included in the price. All you need to do is book in advance as they are very popular. My favourite is Red Ginger, the Asian themed restaurant and we have eaten at it on three different ships. Each time it has been brilliant. I love it!

We shared our table On Sunday night with two American couples, all of whom had also been to Red Ginger before. Four of us knew before we went that we would have the sea bass cooked in palm leaves because we had had it before and is so delicious. I knew too that I would have the sushi sashimi platter for my starter and I chose the steamed ginger pudding for dessert. A perfect meal.

We all had the same problem. We know the sea bass is excellent but what are we missing out on by not choosing something different? Everything looks so good. The decisions are tough.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the food and the company. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures but here’s one I took on Marina as we cruised the Baltic in 2016.

Tonight we are booked into Polo Grill. We’re looking forward to that too!

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Ancient city of Saint Emilion

Yesterday from Bordeaux we took a tour to Saint Emilion, a grand cru wine village about 30 minutes from Bordeaux. The population is about 500 and it is all about wine. Very very old buildings are everywhere but the lower parts of many of the buildings have been very commercialised.

If you look very closely at this picture, you might find me. I’m not much of a photographer but David is worse. He cut off the top of the lovely spire and waited until I was hidden by others. Oh well! At least it is proof that I was there.

Our guide then took us to a grand cru vineyard where we sampled their reds. The main grapes grown are Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a very pretty area but a strong wind made being outside unpleasant.

We sampled three reds and I enjoyed all of them. David liked only one but we didn’t buy any.

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Cruising into Bordeaux

After our beautiful brunch on Sunday we had a very lazy day, just relaxing as we cruised right up the Garonne River to Bordeaux. It’s a very wide river and apparently only about 30 ships will make it all the way up the river this year. The bridge opened up to let us pass underneath.

We had a quick wander around Bordeaux and guess what we found:

We wondered which one the grandkids would choose if they were here but we resisted the temptation ourselves. No harm in looking though!

Bordeaux was once British and the wine trade between Bordeaux and England began in the 14th Century. Nearly one quarter of a million acres are under grape cultivation currently. The city was spared in both world wars so its beautiful old buildings still stand today.

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No potato peel pie – just Cornish Pasties!

I was really excited to visit the home of that lovely book and film about Guernsey during the Nazi occupation in WWII. We were disappointed to hear from some of the shopkeepers that the movie was actually filmed in Cornwall and even the shoreline shots were not actually Guernsey. If you haven’t read the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, I recommend it.

David started the day with his typical Oceania breakfast of lamb chops, bacon, tomato, hash brown followed by toast and marmalade. At home he has just toast and tomato.

We then rode the tender across and wandered through the streets of Guernsey. It was a lovely place to explore. David saw The Cornish Pasty Company shop so in we went for pasties and coffee (flat whites even with soy milk). We certainly didn’t need any lunch back on board.

I bought a lovely shirt in one of the many interesting little boutiques and they don’t have any VAT so the price was right.

The entertainer tonight was Chris Hamilton, an English piano showman and he could certainly tickle the ivories. He even played The Entertainer, my favourite piece of music.

Another great day!

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Frank Couch, The Titanic and Southhampton’l

My maternal great grandparents migrated from Port Isaac in Cornwall (Port Wen of Doc Martin fame) to Melbourne Australia in 1862. Elizabeth Couch and Isaac Hawker had just newly married and had a baby son when they boarded The Accrington. They had worked as farm labourers at Roscarrock farm but all the males in Elizabeth’s family were fishermen, mariners or master mariners.

Elizabeth’s father was Francis Couch and her brother, Francis had a son, Frank Couch, making Frank my first cousin three times removed. Sorry, that became a little complicated. Anyhow, I claim him. He was born in 1884 but he died in 1912. That’s right. He was Able Seaman Couch which means he was an experienced sailor, as you would expect growing up in Port Isaac with his background, and he was in a lifeboat of The Titanic. The lifeboat sank, he died and is buried in Halifax, Canada.

Hence I’m interested in all things Titanic.

In Southampton, there is a both a park and a museum dedicated to The Titanic.

David didn’t want to explore and I thought the museum would be closed on Good Friday. We even had breakfast in the hotel because we thought everything would be closed. Anyway, I asked at the desk where the park was and the guy sent me off around the corner and up the main road. I don’t know if I misunderstood his accent or what but I ended up walking through a footpath of weeds which included nettles trying to grab me.

A couple of ladies who were at reception had said to head for the old church tower so I retraced my steps and headed for the tower. Thankfully it was at the museum.

To my surprise, Sea City Museum was open so in I went. I found Frank’s name on the list of crew. I had a quick walk through and took a heap of photos. (We are currently moored off St Peter’s Port and the internet is weak at the moment so I can’t seem to load photos. I’ll post them later.)

I then wandered through the old town which was lovely. All the shops were open and it was market day. With four ships in port, I guess they couldn’t afford not to open. I mislaid myself at that stage but eventually found David at the Ibis

Then we checked out and caught an Uber to the Gate 10 where we boarded the Oceania Marina, our favourite ship for our fourteen night cruise to Barcelona.

We’ve had a lovely first night – great dinner & a very enjoyable performance by one of the ship’s entertainers singing and dancing to some of the tunes from musical movies.

Shortly we will ride the tender across to explore St Peter’s Port. I’m looking forward to it.

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Pictorial story of our train ride from Paris to Southamptonj

Without luggage this would have been easy. With two suitcases and two carry-on bags and a handbag and a man bag, it was a bit of a tussle but we managed it surprisingly easily. Here’s the story in pictures beginning with the beautiful sunrise out the window of our Paris apartment.

We needed a beer when we arrived so I, of course, had a pint. Delicious it was too!

Today we board our ship. During our one night in England, I’ve had a pint, fish and chips and peas (although they weren’t mushy) and ridden in a London cab. So that’s a pretty good effort. (We have spent considerable time in England before but this visit is very short.)

We are ready to be spoiled. We know that the Oceania Marina crew will take very good care of us. Bring it on.

7 Comments Posted on by dapperdaveanddinkydi Family history, Food, Interesting stuff

The secrets of The Marais, the old Jewish Quarter

We’ve wandered the old Jewish quarters of quite a few European cities and we always find them interesting. Today we did a walking tour with a young man named Emmanuel who grew up in a Jewish Family but is not a practicing Jew. His grandparents managed to escape Paris to America in 1942 because he was a physicist. Emanuel is a film maker & photographer and he personalised the tour by talking about specific people. It was very interesting.

Firstly we noticed the beautiful cakes in the window of the shop where we met. There a family from San Francisco joined us for the tour. We returned to this shop at the end of the tour to catch our metro but, of course, we took home some goodies to have with our cup of tea when we got home.

There are many beautiful old buildings in this area. Originally Dukes & wealthy people lived in them but during the revolution many escaped or were killed, leaving their homes empty and they became neglected and dilapidated making them cheap to rent. Jews migrating from Eastern Europe came to France as it had a policy of freedom of religion and they took up residence here.

The plaque above is a Memorial to the family who lived in this house in 1942 but were deported and exterminated because they were Jewish.

We were permitted to enter this synagogue which was used by Jewish people during World War II when they were not allowed to worship under the Occupation of the Nazis. It was a secret synagogue and is still used today. A young man was there studying the Torah.

It was lunch time and there were long queues at some shops which all sold kosher food.

During the occupation this was a Jewish school but the students were not taught any traditional Jewish learnings. One of the teachers was Joseph Migneret who assisted 252 of his pupils to escape from the Nazis and this plaque honours him. I think that number is right but I could be wrong.

The street below had its name changed to honour non Jewish French citizens who assisted Jews to escape the Holocaust and did this without any prospect of payment. As you can see there are many names on the wall of the street which honours them. It is the Street of The Just.

Emmanuel had planned to finish the tour at Notre Dame but all the streets are closed off. I imagine this is to allow investigation of the fire and to begin the clean up and rescue of whatever can be saved. David and I went as close as we could to get the following photo

And I’m very happy to report that I found a very delicious, traditional onion soup and now I feel we can leave Paris happy tomorrow. We’ve been to Giverny to see those spectacular gardens of Monet. We’ve seen his wonderful work in Musée de L’Orangerie and his work as well as that of the other impressionists in the Museé D’Orsay and at the Foundation Louis Vuitton. We’ve had our incredible day in the Somme with Myriam discovering the story of our family members who fought in WWI.

We’ve bought and eaten delicious food from the markets and restaurants. We’ve wandered some interesting streets and laneways. We’ve loved our cute little apartment and tomorrow it is time to move on. Will we ever return to Paris? Who knows. But I can tell you that I love Paris in the Spring time – in fact anytime!