Guigon Travels

Go Boil Your Bottoms, You Sons of a Silly Person

April 8, 2026Adelle

March 13th – Day 9 – Heidelberg Stroll

We arrived in Mannheim this morning around 3:00 a.m. — yeah, we didn’t notice until we got up. Our tour was scheduled to leave at 9:00 a.m., so again we had to get up earlier than I’d like during a vacation, but there was always that ridiculously good buffet breakfast waiting for us. Honestly, it’s the breakfast that’s going to kick me in the butt when we get home because I usually skip breakfast.

Off we went on our walking tour of Heidelberg. Our tour did not take us to Heidelberg Castle, but it brought us by it. There was another tour that would have included the castle, but we were warned that there was a steep hill involved. We later learned that it ended up not being a big deal because they managed to arrange for a shuttle to bring the guests up that hill instead of walking it. So that was a little disappointing for us. But the stroll was lovely nonetheless.

We strolled through the Markplatz where the Church of the Holy Spirit overlooks. It was constructed between 1398 and 1515, and those red doors you can just see below awnings under the long windows were where various market sellers would set up shop every day, and still do (they were open later in the morning today). There are carvings on the walls beside some of them, indicators of what the shops would sell. At the bakery stall the carvings were of different sized bretzels (pretzels, but bigger and softer products than the sticks we get in North America). If the customer questioned whether they got the size of bretzel they were paying for they could hold it up against the carvings to confirm.

The Hercules Fountain in the Marktplatz was completed around 1706, commemorating the reconstruction of the city after the Nine Year’s War. The “official” description suggests Hercules is holding a lion skin symbolizing strength and resilience. Our guide told us the generally accepted subtext was that Hercules was sculpted to hold the lion’s head against his butt in yet another Rhineland insult to the French.

The Bruckentor (Bridge Gate) leads to the Old Bridge spanning the Neckar River. There’s a sculpture of a monkey (baboon, actually) at the base of the gate called the Bruckenaffe. This one is made of bronze and replaces a 15th-century stone version, and there are a pair of small bronze mice right next to it. Apparently the baboon represented mockery and points its butt towards the city’s border to show the Elector’s power over the passing bishops, and it holds a mirror that is meant to encourage self-reflection or remember where you come from. Similar to the Tunnes und Schal statues, the baboon and mice have good luck rituals, too: rubbing the mirror will bring you money or wealth; rubbing the baboon’s fingers will ensure you return to Heidelberg, and rubbing the mice will bring you fertility. The bronze version of this baboon’s face is actually hollow, which tends to unintentionally (?) invite people to stick there head in it like a mask. Our guide did not recommend actually doing this as you do run the risk of getting stuck… and then there’s of course the unhygienic part of it. I thought I took photos of the monkey and mice, but apparently I did not. Oops.

We had some free time here, so Dan and I wandered back down the Hauptstraße (main street), which is one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe. Lots of modern recognizable chain stores, but also lots of cobblestones, cafes, and boutiques. During the tour we passed by our guide’s favourite little cafe, so we returned to Chocolaterie Yilliy and ordered (at her recommendation) Spanish hot chocolate — which of course was just melted chocolate, thick almost like pudding but drinkable. They even provide a wooden spoon with the drink. We took our pudding drinks and walked back along the river boardwalk towards the bus pick up location.

The bus ride back to the ship did not return us to the same place we disembarked. It had moved on down the river and picked us up in Germersheim. Along the drive many of us noticed these odd balls on many of the trees that looked like nests. But there were so many of them we agreed they couldn’t possibly be nests. A little Google searching as we drove and we learned that they are actually European Mistletoe, which is a hemiparasitic plant that draws water and nutrients from the tree it grows on. There you go; your horticultural lesson for the day.

We spent the afternoon shipboard having lunch, partaking in another trivia game, watching a World of SCENIC presentation, trying to finish the Day 2 Sudoku, and engaging in the Daily Port Talk with Cathy.

Shortly after arriving in Rastatt we all got as gussied up as we wished (honestly, Dan and I were moderately dressed up, but I did wear my Scottish shawl). Why? Oh, nothing special, just a classical concert with opera singers and a pianist at Rastatt Palace. It was wonderful! We arrived by bus, were escorted into the palace, served champagne, toured around some of the restored rooms, and then enjoyed the performance.

Rastatt Palace was yet another building meant to one-up Versaille. It was the first Baroque residence on the Upper Rhine, built between 1700 and 1707 for the Margrave of Baden-Baden and his wife. It is one of the only palaces that was not damaged during WWII.

Gute Nacht!

Adelle and Dan

If the River Starts to Rise, Head for the Beer Hall

March 21, 2026Adelle

NOTE: I have done extensive editing and additions to the previous posts for this trip. I wasn’t happy with what I had produced while travelling, so I suggest it may be worthwhile to revisit those posts.

Day 8 – Walking Tour of Koblenz

After breaking our fast at the wonderous buffet too early for my personal liking, we left the ship at 9:00 a.m. for the Koblenz walking tour. Our walking tour took us around the main historical town of Koblenz. We started with identifying the oldest remaining building (in pink) after the last time the entire town was destroyed by Allied forces, against which a new building was directly attached (in yellow). This was designated as our landmark if we got separated, given it was near where our ship was docked.

As we walked away from our ship, towards the triangle point that marks where the Mosel River meets the Rhine River, you can see across the Rhine a fortress sprawled up high on the hill. This is the Ehrhenbreitstein Fortress. It was built over the remains of an earlier fortress destroyed by France in 1801, and now houses a state museum. There’s a modern gondola that connects the west side of the river up to the east side where the fortress is. Most of the locals aren’t very happy with the design of the gondola station given its modern look placed in the heart of the historical district, and the potential impact it could have on their UNESCO funding. We did not actually go up to that fortress.

Emperor Wilhem I with the winged female genius loci

Emperor (Kaiser) Wilhelm I was honoured with this statue placed at the “German Corner” for unifying Germany. It was placed three years after his death, and inaugurated by his grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II. There is a winged female genius loci standing next to the Emperor’s horse, representing the spirit or guardian of the place.

The Teutonic Knights’ House was the first branch of the Teutonic order in the Rhineland, in 1216. The grounds were given to this branch and included a hospital for the poor. The Teutonic Order is still active in Koblenz today, although the house itself now contains a museum.

The cherry blossoms were amazing throughout this trip. This one was on the beautiful grounds of St. Castor Basilica.

These are called Stumbling Stones, and they’re in places throughout Europe identifying the homes of people who were taken by the Nazis. These do not just recognize and remember Jewish people, they also remember other peoples from other cultures who were also taken. The stones are purposely placed slightly off from the surrounding cobblestones so they are tripped on (stumbled over) and noticed. We found them to be very sobering reminders to never let such atrocities happen again.

For about 20 years in the late 18th and early 19th centuries Koblenz was affiliated with France. During this time the French soldiers who occupied the town had children with the German women, often naming them Jean (Johann or Hans). When the French released Koblenz back to Germany, the French soldiers left the German women and their children behind. Over time the name Jean became Schang and eventually Schangel, referring to the German-French children. Those children grew up without fathers, and often were considered “rascals”. They apparently would go around spitting playfully at passersby and running away. Eventually, all native Koblenzers considered themselves Schangel, and being spit on by the Schangel children was a right of passage for newcomers to be accepted into the community as natives. In 1940, this fountain with a spitting child was built and dedicated to the poet who wrote the lyrics to the Koblenz anthem, Schangellied. There’s a plaque on the ground in front of the fountain where people can stand, and every few minutes the statue will spit a jet of water splashing you and effectively making you a Koblenzer. It wasn’t actually working while we were there, so Dan did not get to become a Koblenzer. The manhole covers throughout the community also depict the Schangel.

The Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) has its beginnings on this highest point of the city dating back to the 5th century. The Franks built a place of worship in a previous Roman building, and it was rebuilt several times using the original foundations. This photo shows architectural elements from at least four eras, starting at the bottom: Romanesque from the 12th and 13th Centuries; Late Gothic from the 15th Century; Baroque from the 17th Century; and Reconstruction from the 20th Century (after severe damage during WWII). I just love this image. I should really consider printing and framing it…

At the shore where our ship was docked there were these statues placed high on the stone wall. They were rather disconcerting at first glance because they’re just good enough that you might think they were real people. Across from the Mosel from the dock they shored the dredging ships for repairs and probably storage. It looks like they would winch them up the rails, and then release them to slide back into the water when needed.

We had a little bit of time to ourselves before we had to head back to the ship, which left the port at 1:45 p.m. heading for Mannheim. Our “tour” wasn’t over this day, though, given the next several hours would take us through the Rhine Gorge. This is where the majority of the castles and other sites would be seen. The Gorge is generally well protected from the worst weather, with high hills on both sides and several curves. One side would get sunny and warm enough that there were several vineyards planted on the hills. Today was a bit cool and windy, but we parked ourselves on the sundeck recliners at the front of the ship to watch the show. My Scottish shawl came in handy today for this. Dan used his real camera and got some amazing shots, a few of the best follow with captions.

Stolzenfels Castle – Rebuilt in the 19th century for the Prussian Crown Prince

Lahneck Castle – Tragedy of Idilia Dubb: A famous tale tells of a 17-year-old Scottish tourist who allegedly died of thirst in the castle’s tower in 1851 after the wooden stairs collapsed behind her. Apparently her remains were not found until 10 years later by construction workers doing renovations.

Marksburg Castle is unique among Rhine castles for never having been destroyed in its 600-year history.

Sterrenberg Castle and Liebenstein Castle, known as the Hostile Brothers Castles

The legend of the Sterrenberg Castle and Liebenstein Castle is that in the 13th Century two brothers inherited the land from their father, circumventing their blind sister’s interest. They got into a feud and built each their own castles in proximity to each other, building a wall between them ever higher. By the time they finally reconciled somewhat, they ended up only having a few years together before one of them died.

Rheinfels Castle (Burg Rheinfels) was once the largest and most powerful fortress along the Middle Rhine Valley

Katz Castle (Burg Katz) was built around 1371, destroyed in the 18th Century, and then completely rebuilt in the late 19th Century. It is now a private residence – can you believe that???

A historic railway tunnel portal built in the mid-19th Century, but designed to resemble a medieval castle tower. During WWII the design helped disguise the tunnels from Allied bombing raids, which often tried to avoid destroying historic monuments.

The Lorelei Statue is situated near the Lorelei Rock, which is a 132-metre-high slate cliff in a stretch of the river known for treacherous currents. The legend is that a maiden from German folklore sits on a rock in this area and lures sailors to their doom with her song. I figure Dan’s tinnitus saved him from this particular fate.

Schonburg Castle was originally built in the 12th century and served as a royal castle and then a toll station.

All that watching for castles and such caused me to completely forget about the Corn Hole tournament that was held on the aft side of the sundeck, well behind where I was sitting in the fore. Ah, well. After the Daily Port Talk and supper, we participated in “Name That Tune” with Hannah. Yes, that’s right, you heard me: WE participated in yet another social gathering!

Gute Nachte!

Adelle and Dan

P.S. You’re probably wondering about the title of this post. Well, the Rhine and Mosel are known historically to flood on occasion and in Koblenz along the German Corner they have several places where you can see the high water marks and where they’ve specifically marked how high the floods have gotten. We could have sworn that the guide said something about one of the historical beer halls we passed was designed to be lifted above the high water when it floods, and that it would be a safe place for the residents to go. I’m not sure we heard the guide correctly though, because nowhere in my post-trip research can I find any references to such a thing. So either he was pulling our collective legs or we misunderstood what he was telling us. Anywho.

Ich Bin Ein Donut

March 12, 2026March 21, 2026Adelle

Day 7 – Walking Tour of Cologne

I meant to mention in yesterday’s post Dan’s exchange with the Hotel Manager when we checked in on Day 2 of the cruise, in which his response to Dan’s comments that we’re not used to getting waited on hand and foot was to “Get used to it.”

On Day 3 of the cruise, we got to have a “lie in” today, as Cathy the Canadian Cruise Director would say, before going on our shore excursion walking tour of Cologne. We didn’t arrive in the port until around 2:00 p.m., so the morning was a leisurely exercise in waking up at the more reasonable time of about 8:30 a.m., followed for me by a deep tissue massage from Vera, the Wellbeing Coach. Oh, my god, I desperately needed that and she delivered. My lower back and hips have been horribly out of whack since flying into Paris. I met with her again later in the day to help me do some stretches and recommend alternatives. She also suggested adding a pinch of salt to my water bottle to add electrolytes to combat water retention.

Our tour of Cologne (Koln) started pretty much as soon as we docked. Naturally it was pouring rain the entire time, right up until the tour ended. It was still better than the weather we left at home.

The tour guide was a really nice young guy (I regret I have forgotten his name) who gave us an overview of the community’s history, with a bit of the ridiculous tidbits thrown in for good measure.

This fountain (not currently working) commemorates the work that women historically did for the community.

About 90% of the city centre was destroyed during WWII following 262 separate Allied air raids. They rebuilt around and attached to the pieces that remained standing. The year the original buildings were made had been written on the buildings, and rewritten on the new buildings that replaced what had been destroyed. They were usually written with iron(?) numbers that you can see on two the following buildings.

The tower is original; the rest was rebuilt around it.

This building was originally built in 1939.

This building was originally built in 1685.

The Schmitz Column… randomly acknowledging Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon.

In 1969 the community decided to erect this column to commemorate a local family by the name of Schmitz. For some unknown random reason, they also decided to acknowledge Neil Armstrong becoming the first person to walk on the moon with his left foot, 389,994 km and 100 metres from where this column was erected. Nobody, including Neil Armstrong at the time when he was told about it, knows why the community decided to make this connection.

Another weird thing, way back in the 1800s a puppet theatre comedic duo named Tuunes und Schal was created to reflect the opposing aspects of rural and urban German life. The rural population was represented by the round, large-nosed Tuunes as a simple, good-natured, tranquil soul. The urban population was represented by the tall, skinny Schal as a cunning, sly character usually wearing a tailcoat. The characters are best friends despite their differences. These life-sized bronze statues of Tuunes und Schal are placed just outside a pub named after them. It is said that if you rub Tuunes nose you will have good luck or romantic success, but if you shake Schal’s hand you will become wealthy. If you look close at the picture you’ll see that Tuunes nose is shinier than Schal’s hand. Dan rubbed Tuunes nose only after I had put my camera away.

Okay, the story behind this statue: The soldier at the top is Jan von Werth. The seated woman is Griet. Jan was originally a poor farmer who fell in love with Griet. Griet was a beautiful snob who spurned Jan’s proposal because she wanted a wealthier and more prominent partner. Devasted, Jan signed up to go to war. He worked hard as a soldier and became a celebrated general. When he lead his triumphant troops into Cologne he saw Griet selling fruit at the market. Griet exclaimed at Jan’s success, “Jan, who would have thought it?” to which Jan replied, “Griet, the person who should have done it!” and turned away from her. Jan had a full, successful, wealthy life and Griet remained an unmarried virgin for the rest of her life.

Underneath this clock (you probably can’t see it very well… I kind of wish Dan had brought his real camera with him today) is the head of a bearded man. I can’t remember who he’s supposed to be or what the history is supposed to be about it, but he’s called the Platzjabbeck and when the bells ring every hour he rolls his eyes and sticks out his tongue. Like I said, some weird stuff here.

Speaking of weird, one more for you: the Kallendresser copper sculture on a building across from the old town City Hall. Apparently the motif of exposing one’s butt in the general direction of authority dates back to the Middle Ages, although this particular sculpture was created in 1957-ish to replace the old one that was on a building destroyed during WWII. This one is of a boy mooning in the direction of City Hall, meant to convey disrespect to authorities.

Did you know that this is where Eau du Cologne was created? Now you do. We did not get any; not a perfume person.

Also, Cologne’s favourite snack apparently is a donut called the Berliner. We had one, and it’s pretty much what we in Canada would call a Bismarck. Funny story, and one I wish I had found a T-shirt with the meme about it, when JFK came to Berlin he said, “Ich bin ein Berliner”, which the people of Cologne laughed at because all they heard was “I am a donut”.

The Cologne Cathedral is “a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture” (quoting Wikipedia here, so…). It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. It is massive and detailed in its architecture, and is the tallest twin-tower church in the world. But what it’s also known for is that where the majority of Cologne was destroyed during WWII, the church remained standing as a landmark for Allied Forces to navigate from. The Allied bombers absolutely flattened the rest of the community.

We took a stroll through the train station, where Dan required assistance with using the self-help checkout till at the grocery store. It was in German, and didn’t have an English option. The police arrived in force shortly thereafter, but don’t worry, it wasn’t for us. It was for the fans of the Arsenal football (soccer) team, who were being rowdy on their way to the match against Bayer Leverkusen.

Cologne is also known for their love-lock bridge, which they blew up in WWII to prevent the Allied Forces from crossing the Rhine. They rebuilt the bridge to accommodate train and pedestrian traffic, instead of vehicles, and now 12,000 trains a day pass over that bridge in both directions. In the 1970s someone (a bunch of someone’s) started locking padlocks to the bridge with their initials engraved as a demonstration of their everlasting love. They would then toss the key into the river, symbolizing the impossibility of breaking or removing the lock. Since then there have been so many locks added that they are estimated to number over 300,000 and collectively weigh over 100,000 pounds.

We returned to the ship, relaxed for a bit writing the previous (original) blog on my iPad, before attending the Daily Port Talk. This evening’s dinner was in the Crystal Dining Room, yet another fine dining experience (really, “chef’s kiss”). The evening entertainment was from a local singer performing a variety of songs old and new. I think her name was Jeneanne (?). Anyway, she was very entertaining. We turned in shortly after the performance, as tomorrow will be another relatively early day.

Gute Nachte!

Adelle and Dan

The Streets Are Paved With The Blood of Tourists

March 11, 2026March 21, 2026Adelle

Day 5 – Eurostar to Amsterdam; Scenic Rhine Highlights Boarding

Day 6 – Walking Tour of Amsterdam; sailing starts tonight

Our effort to get a good night’s sleep was completely thwarted. Neither of us slept at all. Between being too hot (both the room and my internal furnace) I did not get more than half an hour of actual sleep. Regardless, the breakfast buffet in the hotel was pretty good. They served it out of the cellar, all lined in stone walls.

The taxi we ordered arrived as scheduled and brought us to Gare du Nord, where we had a moment of panic when we discovered you have to pay a euro to use the toilets. Finding a coin in my bag took some doing, but all was well in the end.

We were seated in first class on the Eurostar train, which was a sight better than the flight. I at least was comfortable enough to actually sleep for about an hour, and Dan was able to relax. The less-than-four-hour ride took us through 5 stops going through 3 countries: Brussels in Belgium; Antwerp in Netherlands; Rotterdam, Schiphol International Airport, and finally Amsterdam Centraal.

The Scenic representative Emko was waiting right on the platform for us rather than in the terminal, and brought us straight out to our driver Casper, who took us for a lovely 20-minute drive to the port in Zaandam. At the port, Scenic had people waiting to help us out of the car, take our bags to our room for us, and welcoming us everywhere in between.

We registered and they assigned us our key fobs. We use them to get into our rooms of course, but also to check on and off the ship. If we don’t scan back in by the time we’re supposed to they’ll know to start looking for us before departing. If we forget to scan out they won’t know we’re missing and we’ll have to catch up to the ship at the next port of call. So, scan out and scan back in!

The ship is long, but not big, very comfortably accommodating the 97 passengers and 58 crew. There’s a pool and walking track on the sundeck, two dining rooms, a lounge, a fitness room, a salt spa, and a massage/facial room.

Our room is, well, roomy and includes a private balcony with a retractable full wall window and blackout blinds. The bathroom is perfectly sized, such that Dan can have a comfortable shower. And it’s a multi-head shower too. Everything is included, except the massages and facials. We have a stocked mini-bar, walking sticks, an umbrella, bathrobes, blankets to take outside.

The Bra & Lounge (with Portobello’s way at the end on the other side of the bar).

Every night before supper there’s a Daily Port Talk with our Cruise Director Cathy (Canadian in the house!) to tell us about the next day’s itinerary and what to expect. We have a butler, housekeeping comes in every day, and does turn down service every night leaving chocolates on our pillows. We get one complimentary laundry service up to 1 kg. I could go on, but really, just look them up. It’s easier.

The day we arrived, despite being exhausted, we went for a walk in Zaandam, looking for the Inntel Hotel. Our butler Amel mentioned it looks like it was made out of legos, so we were curious. Sure enough, it looks like it was made of legos!

The next morning we had to wake distressingly early to leave for our Walking Tour of Amsterdam. Had our ship not had to change ports from Amsterdam to Zaandam we wouldn’t have had to leave until maybe 45 minutes later. As it was, we had to get up by 7:00 am to get ready, have breakfast, and get on the bus by 8:15 for the drive back to Amsterdam.

The tour guide was entertaining and informative, constantly reminding us to look both ways before crossing the street or we’d get run over by bicyclists. She made sure we understood that the bicycle paths were painted red to hide all the blood of the tourists who get hit by the bicyclists.

There are canals, canals everywhere! Whenever they needed more room for housing they’d build another set of canals. The homes in this part of the city are old, having been built on reclaimed marsh land on wooden piles which tend to settle and move. Some of the houses are leaning dramatically as a result. The homes are tall and narrow, usually with no more than two or three columns of windows. Our guide showed us the smallest house, with one column of windows, basically squeezed in the space between two other homes, as if someone saw this alleyway and thought to themselves, yeah, I can fit one more in there.

They have a relatively thriving house boat community, although their houseboats are nothing like most of ours. They’re long and narrow, moored on the canals within the city, and they own the part of the pier they’re moored to. They are also connected to the city water, sewer, and power. I was a bit surprised to see only one with solar panels.

The front of the house where Anne Frank and her family were sheltered.

The single column of windows where the siding is red is the smallest house in Amsterdam.

Sadly we did not get the advertised herring tasting, but our guide did introduce us to poffertjes. They are a traditional Dutch batter cake, kind of like small puffed buckwheat pancakes served with butter and powdered sugar. We made a circuitous way back around to the Amsterdam Centraal train station where our bus was waiting to take us back to the Zandaam port.

We weren’t back to the ship for long before we set sail. Lunch was served in the main dining room, although we had the choice to eat at the River Cafe in the lounge. Honestly, we probably would have had an easier time controlling our food intake if we’d taken advantage of the Cafe, but we didn’t do that. Why? Because the main dining room served a complete buffet, and had the option to order from an a-la-carte menu. We also did not order from the a-la-carte menu for lunch. Why? Because like I said: buffet! Multiple types of salads, soup of the day, appetizers, cheeses, meats, pasta, desserts. I may have failed to mention that breakfast is served the same way as lunch, only with, you know, breakfast items. So yeah, our “diet” is doomed.

We participated in the afternoon trivia game hosted by the Enrichment Manager Hannah and her “ladies in waiting” (Enrichment Manager trainees). We went through our first canal lock this afternoon as well.

We listened to Cathy’s Daily Port Talk in preparation for tomorrow’s adventures. And enjoyed the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail before going for supper. We were invited to a special supper sitting in Portobello’s tonight. I’m not even going to try and describe how good that meal was, except to say phenomenal. Probably going to be using that word a lot this trip …

And we even stayed up for the evening entertainment starring Hannah performing “A Night at the Musicals”. Turns out Hannah is multi-talented, having attended a performing arts college. She has a lovely singing voice. We missed last night’s entertainment — Gala Strings Trio — We were just too tired to stay up, and as mentioned, we had to get up early today.

We’re looking forward to a solid night’s sleep before tomorrow’s excursions.

Welterusten!

Adelle and Dan

I’ll Pass on the Street Snails

March 10, 2026March 21, 2026Adelle

Day 3 – Louvre, Eiffel Tower

Day 4 – d’Orsay

Well, the jet lag hit us hard this time, but we didn’t realize how hard until we slept for 12 hours the second night in Paris.

The walks to the Louvre on the first day and d’Orsay on the second day took roughly 40-45 minutes, broken up at about 20 minutes to have brunch. Turns out the Palais Garnier (Paris opera house) is exactly half way between our hotel and the Seine. The Saturday walk was uneventful, and the places we stopped to eat were meh. The Sunday walk we stopped at Le Cafe de Paix, which was built in the 1800s and sits right across from the Palais, but otherwise it was just an all right place to eat, certainly not worth the price we paid. And it turns out if you sit outside you have to sit with the smokers.

If you’re into jazz, these players were decently funky.

Cafe de Paix on the left; Palais Garnier on the right.

Sunday’s route also brought us through the fashion district, where we passed numerous people who apparently — or apparently thought — they were famous celebrities. It took seeing a model testing poses in the street and double-cheek air-kissing an acquaintance, and the fancy black cars picking up who I assume were probably some kind of sports stars and their entourage to even realize where we were. At that point I figured I was making my own fashion statement wearing my classic Cabin Radio t-shirt.

Between the fashion district and d’Orsay there were no less than 2 street vendors selling what looked like snails being roasted over a garbage can fire in a shopping cart. In hindsight, they were probably actually chestnuts, but my brief look at them in passing suggested otherwise. Neither of us cared to take a closer look.

The Louvre was fantastic as usual, but there is just so much to see it’s hard to decide where to go when you only have one afternoon. It’s really a lot. But we got to see the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Dan’s favourite was The Coronation of Napoleon, painted in 1807 by Jacques-Louis David.

The second largest painting in the world (by a small margin).

I don’t know what this painting is actually called, but I call it “Talk to the Hand”.

The d’Orsay left a much better impression on us (hehe, see what I did there? If you know, you know…). We found its focus on artworks of the greats made for a somewhat more enjoyable visit, with many more familiar artists like Van Gogh (my hands down favourite), Renoir, and Degas. I can now say I’ve seen both versions of The Starry Night. And we’ve seen Rodin’s The Thinker and his intended place of thought above The Gates of Hell. Oddly, we didn’t get any decent (or even many) photos here. For the most part we were too engrossed in appreciating the artwork with our own eyes to capture them in our cameras.

Saturday evening we experienced a ridiculously expensive Grand Dame menu at Madame Brasserie’s in the Eiffel Tower. I won’t say it was worth the exhorbitant price, but it was a phenomenal meal with extraordinary service, and an excellent view of the Seine.

Sunday evening we took our hotel clerk’s advice and had supper at a place called Le Basilic. It was a whole 80 feet away from our hotel, but in the opposite direction from where we had been walking the last two days. It’s a lovely little place on the corner of a small triangular intersection. Mussels in wine cream sauce, beef filet Rossini-style, duck breast, and homemade dark chocolate mousse for dessert – absolutely fantastic! If you’re in the Montmartre area I highly recommend coming here for a meal.

Mussels in wine cream sauce, served in a small cast-iron pot.

Other than my hips, knees, and feet protesting almost the entire time, we enjoyed our brief stay in Paris. Tomorrow, however, is the beginning of a new chapter to this particular adventure, so an attempt at sleep must be made.

Aurevoir!

Adelle and Dan

A Lot of Gargoyles for a Church

March 8, 2026March 21, 2026Adelle

Travel Day 1 and Day 2

05 and 06 March 2026

This is how we left Yellowknife Thursday afternoon:

A roughly 1.75 hour flight to Calgary, roughly 3 hour layover, and roughly 8.5 hour overnight flight to Paris later, and we arrived Friday afternoon to practically balmy weather in comparison. There’s supposed to be comparative photos on our arrival to the above, but I was tired enough to forget to do it…

The flights were uneventful, and WestJet service was very good, but our seats were not comfortable enough for a red-eye flight of this length, despite purchasing econoflex with extended comfort. Especially with at least one unhappy 18-month-old sharing the cabin (poor thing). I think we’re going to have to splurge next time on the Premium seats on the outgoing leg, because honestly it’s taking way longer for us to physically recover than it used to. It’s a non-issue going home because we’re flying during the day on that leg, so we don’t need to sleep on the way.

We had a very smooth passage through customs at Charles de Gaulle, aside from a brief hiccup with the passport scanner giving Dan some grief. But he wasn’t the only one having that problem, and staff was there to sort it quickly. Our luggage arrived promptly (whaaaatt?) and we found a legit taxi exactly where the signs said we would. The driver was really friendly and chatty, but kept showing us on his phone while he was driving where to find places to see. I still don’t know how he didn’t crash the car in the process. But he got us to our hotel in one piece for 80€ — which his fellow drivers thought was too cheap, but I feel like it was a lot.

After checking into Hotel Le Relais Montmartre, we took the teeny-tiny elevator separately to our fifth floor room.

To our incredibly spacious fifth floor room with a reasonably spacious bathroom.

To say the least, we are very pleased with this hotel!

Once we got settled and had a very short nap, we endeavoured to push through the jet lag and adjust to the local time zone by going for a walk up to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre (Sacred Heart Church). My intention was to take the funicular up to the church. That didn’t happen. We didn’t realize until we were pretty much there that the directions we were given walked us all the way up. We were pacing ourselves anyway (because, you know, tired) and it brought us past some lovely places, like this restaurant with a windmill on its roof: Le Moulin de la Galette, which has been there since the 17th century.

My hair was doing wonderfully weird things. I forgot how humid it is in Paris.

And an artists market. Sorry, no pictures of the market. But it was very busy pretty much everywhere, especially the church. We were way too tired to stand in the line to go inside, so we just walked around the outside of the church before taking the funicular back down.

The funicular turned out just to be an expensive ride down the hill, one that was way too full of people to even get a view, let alone a picture of the view, out the window.

We made our way back to our hotel, stopping at La Boheme Montmartre for supper. I had sea bream fillet while Dan had burrata with tomatoes and a pasta (macaroni) and ham dish. I forced myself to stay awake until about 9:30 pm, and then we crashed until 8:00 am Saturday.

Bonne nuit et bonjour,

Adelle and Dan

Planes and Trains and a River Boat

March 5, 2026March 21, 2026Adelle

This was not supposed to be the trip it is this year. This was supposed to be Scotland Trip #3, and it was supposed to happen next month. However, work obligations on my part guilted me into changing our travel days to March instead of April. March, to my dismay, turned out to not be the greatest time to go to Scotland, at least not for our interests.

So what to do? Hmmm… well, we had talked about wanting to do a Rhine river cruise someday. So with some research I discovered a Rhine river cruise was a viable option in March. And after chatting with friends and getting a referral for a Canadian travel agent (Dani Hill Travel / Vulcan Vacations) we narrowed down the cruise line options, and settled on Scenic’s Rhine Highlights 8-night river cruise from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Basel, Switzerland.

I say “settle” but that’s very clearly settling up, not down. Scenic cruises are luxury cruises, so we’re paying a lot, but we’re getting a lot for it, too. A large room with a private balcony, butler service, laundry service, complimentary mini-bar, meals, entertainment, and shore excursions. There’s a fitness room, a walking track, a pool/hottub, a spa, etcetera. So there’s lots to be excited about on this cruise.

In an effort to alleviate the jet lag before getting on the cruise, we decided to spend three nights in Paris, and then we’ll take the train to Amsterdam to get on the boat. And we’ll be spending two nights in Basel before taking the train back to Paris and flying home. Hence the title: Planes and Trains and a River Boat … Off we go!

Shaka, Hawaii!

January 24, 2025Adelle

Our last full day in Oahu was relatively unscripted as we were really just trying to kill time before our red-eye flight home. So we got up when we got up, we packed our things, and we returned to the Kalapawai Cafe for brunch. This time we sat in the cafe and ate a breakfast burrito and a lox and cream cheese bagel. To be repetitive: the food was great!

We decided to see if we could find Robin Master’s Estate (from the original Magnum P.I), which was southbound from Kailuia on the Kalaniana’ole Highway. We found it, but didn’t realize it until we’d blown right past it. It’s not like we could see through the hedges anyway, so we just kept on going South to see what we could see. It turned out to be a great drive along the coast where we stopped at a couple of scenic outlooks before reaching Maunalua Bay. We stopped briefly at the beach park, noting that the bay itself is really quite sheltered and shallow. The waves could be seen breaking way out at the mouth of the bay.

We decided from this point to see if Shaka Guide had any audio road tours for Oahu, and lo and behold they did. Several, in fact. We decided to try and follow the East Oahu guide backwards back to Waikiki, but we were already too close to Waikiki to actually get anything other than the Hawaiian music from the tour. But then we took the “Honolulu’s Backyard Rainforest Tour”, which took us through Manoa, to the Lyon Arboretum, back down past the Manoa Chinese Cemetery, up to the Tantalus Mountain (Pu’ukakea) lookout, and down the other side of the mountain on a lovely, windy, zigzaggy drive through the rainforest to the Punchbowl Memorial (National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific). The tour proper ended shortly after this, but offered an extended tour into downtown Honolulu “to discover a few hidden gems”. We took part of the extended tour and did stop at what was a visually lovely little inner-city waterfall, but the water was contaminated and almost all the areas we drove by were really sketchy. The main tour was really cool though, so I would definitely recommend taking that part.

It was fairly late in the afternoon by this point, but we figured we’d go to Pearl Harbor to see if we could at least walk the grounds. After navigating the ridiculously convoluted highways and roadways (the engineers must have been on drugs to create that mess), we made it to the Pearl Harbor Visitors Centre just before 4:00 p.m. We only had about an hour to look around, so we took our time and got a good browse through half of the museum before checking out the gift shop. We had already decided at this point that we’d be coming back to Maui in five years, so we’ll take the first two days of that trip in Oahu to do a proper tour of Pearl Harbor, and go back to Kualoa Ranch, and maybe do one of the other Shaka tours.

We hit gold again for supper. We did a Google search of “restaurants near me” and at first we tried to find Boston’s Pizza out of curiosity, because, you know, Boston Pizza… Boston’s Pizza… but again because of the ridiculous highways and roadways we ended up blowing right past that place. So we got off the friggin’ highway and looked again at Google and this time found a place called Da Seafood Cartel which had great reviews and looked interesting. We followed non-highway streets to get to the restaurant… which was located on the side of Kamehameha Highway <insert face-palm emoji here>. At any rate, the restaurant is a smallish sized cafe kind of place that calls itself “Mariscos Sonora Style”, which is basically Mexican seafood dishes from the Sonora region. It was fantastic! We shared a bowl of house made tortilla chips that were delish and not salty (yay!), with salsa and a blue crab tobiko spread. I had the fish and shrimp tacos. There was so much fish and shrimp and toppings that there was no way I was going to be able to actually make a handheld taco with the two small tortillas, so I dug into it with my fork instead. So yummy! Dan had one of the quesadillas (I can’t remember which one: smoked marlin, steak, or shrimp). We will definitely come back here next time.

It was still early but we didn’t have anywhere else with time to go to, so we went to the airport to see if we could check in. Given that we were five hours early, the check in counters weren’t open yet. There weren’t any kiosks either. I had been trying since last night to check in through the Westjet app and online, but it would not work for me. At any rate, we were the second couple who had tried to arrive early. The counter didn’t open until three hours before our flight departure time, so the four of us sat on the benches and waited. Dan and I took a stab at the Globe and Mail’s Christmas 2024 crossword puzzle (which I had started and saved a few weeks ago). We made a good dent on getting that done, but it’s not finished.

We finally got checked in and proceeded through the TSA gate where they take your picture to compare to your passport. The camera thought Dan was wearing a mask (he wasn’t, it was just his beard) so it wouldn’t take his picture, but they let him through anyway. The rest of the process went smoothly and we made our way home. Other than a ridiculously long lay over of about 6 hours in Calgary (because I wanted a direct flight home, not the one that stopped in Edmonton on the way — I may rethink that the next time) the trip was uneventful. The power went out as soon as we walked into the terminal in Yellowknife, but it wasn’t out for long. The Boy picked us up and drove us home, and we chatted with him for bit before going to bed.

All in all, Dan and I had a great time on this trip.

Take care, everyone, and stay safe! We’ll see you next time.

Adelle and Dan

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

January 22, 2025Adelle

Yesterday was a travel day, so I did not bother writing. The title of this entry says it all, pretty much. Although I did manage to leave my backpack behind in the condo in Maui, so they’re going to have to mail it back to me in Yellowknife. Thankfully it only has souvenirs and gifts… and my water bottle. At any rate, we returned the Charger to Avis and took a Southwest Airlines flight across to Honolulu. That was actually a little surreal. I felt like I was flying on Canadian North 10 or more years ago; Southwest doesn’t assign seats, rather they call boarding by group numbers and you can sit in whatever seat you want. I had to stop myself from overthinking about manifests and such. And they flew us on a 737-Max 8, too, so the flight took a whole 24 minutes. Sorry, no inflight service for such a short flight, lol!

We landed in Honolulu and picked up another car from Avis. This time, since we were only going to be on Oahu for two nights, we decided to have a little fun and rent a convertible. They gave us a Ford Mustang. Sweet ride, and we’re having fun with it, but it’s a pretty tight fit for us and really not a practical vehicle.

At any rate, we made our way to Papaya Paradise B&B in Kailua. It’s in a residential area and not a true B&B (no breakfast), but a lovely guestroom attached to the owner’s home. The yard is beautiful and there’s a small pool next to the lanai.

We decided to get some ramen for supper and found Rei Rei Ramen not far from the B&B. It’s a small restaurant but very clean and fresh, and the ramen was wonderful!

Today we got up relatively early to make our way to Kualoa Ranch Private Nature Preserve. On the way we stopped at Kalapawai Cafe and Deli for breakfast on the road. One Cinnamon Roll and one Nutella Brioche, a hot chocolate (of course) and a coffee, and hit the road. The pastries were soooo good!

The drive to the Ranch is about 40 minutes or so (depending of course on construction). The Preserve is a huge area that includes everything from fish/oyster ponds and fruit and vegetable gardens to cattle ranching. They offer multiple tour options for the area. Dan and I took the Kualoa Grown Tour in the morning. Our guide Wonka took us around to the gardens and fish ponds, and a sampling of poi (still as tasteless as the first time I tried it), dried tuna (very tasty — making up for the poi), and a piece of pineapple as a kind of palate cleanser. Later in the tour we also got to try a piece of raw cacao, which is actually not bad until you actually bite into it. The bitter part is clearly in the centre of the bean. This tour also took us by the sites where the outdoor cafe scenes were filmed for 50 First Dates and where Chris Pratt’s character lived in the trailer in Jurassic World.

After that tour we had lunch at Aunty Pat’s Cafe while we waited for the second tour. The food served there is primarily sourced from the Ranch’s produce, including the shrimp I had and the pork bulgogi. It was very good, and the price was reasonable.

The second tour we went on was a lot of fun. It was the 2-hour long UTV Raptor Tour. Dan drove us in a Kawasaki side-by-side in a group of about 7 vehicles following our guides Michael and Raymond throughout the property. What an amazing property! Our guides were fun and informed, and provided not only a description of what movies were filmed where, but also cultural stories and legends. It was totally worth getting covered in dust for.

We returned to the B&B and showered the dust off before going out for supper. We picked a place at random again by surfing Open Table’s top 10 restaurants near me and went to Goen Dining + Bar. I cannot emphasize how lucky we have been with our choices of places to eat during this trip. The service and food here were fantastic yet again. We shared the Burratta Caprese appetizer, I had the Misoyaki Butterfish, and Dan had the special baked Penne with marinara and alfredo sauce and all sorts of meat and cheeses. Dan’s dish was very generous, so much so that he couldn’t eat more than half of it. We’ll see if he actually eats the other half for breakfast as planned.

Thus ends our last night in paradise, although we do have all day here tomorrow before our flight home leaves tomorrow night.

Aloha ahiahi!

Adelle and Dan

Last Full Day in Maui

January 20, 2025Adelle

This will be a short post for our last day in Maui. It’s been a very casual day that started with chocolate croissants on the lanai followed by a couple of hours at Mokapu Beach.

We had reserved an umbrella at Auntie Snorkel Beach Rentals in Kihei, but when we got there David recommended against the umbrella given how windy it was today. We took his advice and got a second beach chair instead (the kind that folds fairly small and has backpack straps).

The beach was actually beautiful and we managed to secure a shaded area under some trees. A couple of swims and a few chapters of my book later, and we brought the chair back to Auntie Snorkel’s and went for a late lunch at Cafe O’Lei upstairs from the store. Lunch was very good, but Dan pointed out that we haven’t made a bad choice yet for places to eat.

We stopped back at the condo from there to drop off our beach gear and chill for a beat before heading back out. We had been wanting to walk the Wailea Beach Path, so we parked at the Polo Beach parking lot and walked for about half an hour before stopping to watch the sunset. Then we walked back to the car and returned to the condo.

I went and picked up some food from Island Gourmet Market to nibble on for the rest of the evening while we did laundry and binged on more Murder, She Wrote.

Aloha ahiahi!

Adelle and Dan