Last leg

 We had a 16 hour layover at Singapore and we couldn't leave the transit lounge. No shops but at least internet. J was keeping in touch with her Dad as we weren't surprising him. WE were spread over a large area and if we wanted food they would take an order and bring it in from an airport shop so it wasn't too bad. No comfy seats though...

Singapore transit lounge

Singapore Air again to Christchurch. Again 135 seats, this time with 29 PX and a family in first class. (No-one in Business). For some reason the rules changed and we weren't allowed to move seat. Ridiculous. I snuck into the row ahead and was discovered a few hours later and told off. When I left the plane everyone else got 'goodbye' but I got 'Goodbye Mr Rowe'.

Empty economy.

Singapore all lit up

Aoraki and Lake Tasman - we are home.

Flight time

 After leaving Reggie in storage we spent the night in an airport hotel. With Covid picking up again in France there were strict restrictions, and CDG had closed 2 of 3 terminals.

The terminal was strangely quiet with shops closed and distancing in action. Short queues though!

We flew Singapore Air. There were 135 economy seats with 21 passengers.

Once we had taken off we were allowed to move seats to an empty row. Judi moved, but despite having the entire plane to go to she sat behind me and complained when I put my seat back! And she kept poking me to look out the window...

The great deception begins

From this day we started the great deception. We had made the decision to return to NZ to weather the Covid surge and avoid a UK winter, but I wanted to surprise Mum so couldn't post anything as we approached flight time. Our route took us north of Paris toward Charles de Gaulle airport. We had arranged storage for Reggie close to there.

We took no photos and spent our time packing and sorting the motorhome. We had to buy suitcases which was trickier than we expected. We finally got some though smaller than we wanted. (And wouldn't you know, the next day we found them in Lidl - bigger and cheaper! Ah well, peace of mind is worth something.)

Fortunately NZ is heading toward summer so we had all the appropriate clothes. We had also taken our passports with us so we had everything necessary for a trip down under instead of a return to the UK. 

That's me done I think

 It's a good thing our travels are nearly over as things are falling apart. Well, that's a little dramatic, but we have lost our electric supply for all intents and purposes. Either a battery has failed or (I suspect) our inverter has a problem. And the weather is crap. So this may be the last blog for our trip for a while.

We woke to find ourselves surrounded by earthmoving trucks! There's a cycleway being built from Vernon to Giverny (at least - we don't know the full route) and the gravel and machinery are being stored on the camping-car park. We had a visit from security late last night but they weren't concerned enough to move us on, so we weren't concerned either.

We visited Monet's house and garden regardless. Over a year they have around 600k visitors, but it was dead quiet while we were there. We walked into a restaurant and got a chorus of 5 bonjours from the staff who were standing around waiting for something to do. Ours was the only motorhome which was a real surprise and we only saw one car in the carpark all the time we were there. 

The garden was very nice, and the house interesting, and there were other things to see in the village as well, such as the Museum of Impressionisms though we didn't go as the next slot was 1 1/2 hours off! (I was very disappointed to find no-one would be pretending to be Boris Johnson or Donald Trump anyway.)

The Monet family grave

Victims of a Lancaster that crashed outside the village

In the garden of the museum of Impressionism

I know it's back-to-front, but the light through the petals made it glow

After lunch we popped back into Vernon to see some sights, though it started to rain heavily so we didn't get to see Chateau Bizy which is unfortunate as it is a 'must-see'.

We did get some lesser sights in first though.

The weather wasn't great for sightseeing

A brief spell of sunshine!

The last of 6 mills built on the mediaeval bridge over the Seine. A dam was built upstream putting all 6 out of business, for which the owners sued.

A fort to protect the end of the bridge. Later it became a storehouse for the wheat milled on the bridge, then a prison, but in 1944 it was hit by bombs aimed for the (modern) bridge and badly damaged. The white stone is reconstruction after the war.

Cruise boats tied up for the season

For some info on the crossings of the Seine at Vernon in 1944, click here. It was quite a scrap.

Through the rain to our next stop where we discovered that we had no power - not even enough to run water!

Here comes the rain again

 It would seem we're on the edge of a big storm, though we're just getting rain mostly. A bit of a wind as I write too.

After another MH had left we realised that there was free power, so we plugged in and read while things charged up. It was pretty wet outside anyway, so not too encouraging for a walk into the town. A rit camper pulled up next door so we had a bit of a chat with him. They've been here for three weeks I think he said, and hadn't seen many Brits in that time either.

Anyway it cleared a little so we wandered around the town. Being midday on a Monday everything was shut except the church. (Sundays and Mondays are weekends for many businesses.)

It seems the ancient French were wargamers though I couldn't find the Terrain Effects Chart so don't know what the map represents.  😉

It was bad enough getting Reggie through these narrow winding roads, let alone a bus as we see here or the large trucks that pass through.

Though we were following a scenic route the weather didn't enhance out pleasure by any means. We stumbled across Chateau d'Anet, the/a 16th C residence of Diane of Poitiers, the/a mistress of King Henry II. J stayed in the car while I photographed the outside, as it was too late to go in.

Then on to Giverny on the Seine where there is an Impressionist Museum and Monet's house. You have to pre-book, so there is some doubt whether we can get in or not.

Churches, churches, churches

 We've broken out into massive plains. Now that most of the crops have been harvested you can see for miles and miles.

We can see a long way (and there's clouds all the way!)

Oh deer.

We got caught up in some major cycle race. We were flagged over but didn't understand what was going on so when we moved on we ended on a narrow road with a number of cyclists heading our way. We pulled over again but a chap had to wave a flag and blow a whistle so noone crashed into us.

This is the second pack (peloton?) 

A tailender (though not the last) amongst the support vehicles. Once they lose the pack they're in trouble.

Onward to Chartres. We could see the cathedral raising above the plains several ks out.

The old town gate

Detail above the door of St Aignan's. More ornate than the main door (though missing a few bits) as it was built later and used more often.

Very colourful inside, though painted as late as 1869.

A very ornate wooden vault, though the original plans called for stone and the columns can be seen ready for these. Outside there are bases of buttress without their flying arches, also waiting for the stone arches which never came due to lack of money.

We walked past a gourmet meal in the covered market. Don't know what it was in aid of but there was a buzz of conversation and people looked happy enough

And then the cathedral. Dedicated to our mother, or rather Our Mother because they had her silk veil as a relic.

South facade

North facade

West facade

The height of Gothic architecture

Lovely carvings. They're being cleaned up - note the ones on extreme left are so much whiter.

The carvings are very well done. They're animated and full of detail, as are the decorations all around them. Very skilled stoneworkers.

There's some nice glasswork as well. This is the 13th C blue virgin window.

Holy grail?

More of the screen (rood?)

South facade again. This was the rulers' portico, while the north facade had all the ecclesiastical statues.

The flying buttresses of St Pierre which we got to admire while getting drenched in a squall

Abbey of St Brice where we were parked up

Continuing homeward we meandered up the Eure valley to Nogent-le-Roi which looks like it might be a worth exploring tomorrow. Meanwhile it's cold and wet still. I am in long sleeves, long trousers and (gasp) shoes. That's right, my jandals have had to be shelved.