Well day 2 of the cruise and all is well, well nearly, the front radar is broken but other than that all is well and the cruise is progressing as normal. Today we had 2 stops along the river the first being at Vernon where we took a short coach ride out to the gardens of Monet at Giverny. There has been so much written about Monet and the garden I will not try and add to them. Suffice to say the biggest revelation to both of us was Monet was actually born as Osc...

So today we are off to join the Avalon cruise which is the center piece of the trip. As we were not due at the meeting point around lunchtime we had a short (yes it was short today) walk this morning around our hotel, and then back to pack and a taxi across Paris to the Pullman hotel Montparnasse. We decided to go before lunch and see what was around Montparnasse for lunch. After checking in with cruise line, we took another very short walk down the street to a...

Well it was supposed to be a little walk, BUT !!!! Our original choice was to take it easy today with a short walk around from our hotel, however we ended up walking for a few hours, thanks to Graham going on once of his jaunts and then misreading the map, nothing changes. We were to walk to the Arc de Triomphe, then a short way down Champs Elysee to ensure we had a coffee or lunch on Champs Elysee, and then back to the hotel, which we did, or at least the firs...

A very long day of travel today. We left our friend Sue's at 7:15am, to catch the 8am train to Edinburgh, however as there was no traffic in Stirling at that time in the morning we were in time to catch the 7:32 to Edinburgh which was fortunate as it was the express train only stopping twice, as we said "that was lucky". So we had time for a coffee on Edinburgh station. Next the Virgin East Coast express from Edinburgh to London Kings Cross, whilst the longest...

A great day out, Sue had decided to take us out to see the Falkirk Wheel and Kelpies, which we had heard of but never seen. The day started with a short drive to Falkirk, once a thriving town which went into decline in the sixties and seventies, it is now home to arguably 2 of Scotland's biggest tourist attractions. Graham had read about the Falkirk wheel, but to see it for real and to watch it in action is excellent. The structure is the world's first and only...