France
A delight for the gourmandiser
1st Visit
23 - 28 May 1975
Our party from Broughton Hall school took the train &
ferry to Paris. I was impressed with the buildings. I celebrated my 13th
birthday with the bumps under the Eiffel Tower. From Paris we travelled to the
seaside at Le Touquet. From there we travelled to
Belgium.
2nd Visit
22 - 24 August 1981
The first stage of our
Inter Rail 1981 adventure took us, via
an overnight train trip with very smelly Arabs, to Marseilles. We were nervous
because of it's violent reputation. We then slept the night on the beach at Juan
les Pins; not knowing that it was one of the most exclusive resorts on the Cote
d'Azur. Next we hit Monaco.
3rd Visit
19 August 1982
The first stage of our
Inter Rail 1982 tour was a day in
Paris with a visit to the glorious Versailles gardens. From Paris we headed via
an overnight train to Germany.
4th Visit
22 - 23 August 1984
Fiona and I rushed through the enormous Louvre
and found the Mona Lisa; we were very disappointed. The
Inter Rail 1984 then continued
on to Florence, Italy.
5th Visit
2 - 9 July 1987
Sean, Simon and Alan, our Rolls-Royce training officer spent
a week in France. We drove via Reims to the Ardeche national park and canoed
down the gorge. On return via Le Puy we spent 36 hours in Paris without sleep; drinking and flirting.
6th Visit
20 August - 3 September 1992
6 of us flew to the island of bandits. In the first week we
trekked the central section of the GR20 route; this required us to carry all
food and camping equipment. It was incredibly hot. In the second week we hung
about in Corte and Calvi.
7th Visit
2 - 7 May 1994
Johnny Webster, Steve Butler, Caroline Jones & I were
entertained by Lille Rotoract Club. We visited Dunquerque, Lille, St Omer,
Compiegne and Paris. We stayed at a chateau in St Omer.
8th - 9th Visits
April 1990 and Aug 1994
Whilst working for Rolls-Royce I visited France twice. Once to Airbus, Toulouse and second to Renault, Paris.
10th - 19th Visits
July 1994 - July 2001
Jacqueline & I had a tempestuous relationship over 7 years. Her home village was St Bonnet d'Orcival, Auvergne. I visited several times to
meet her family and friends and had a wonderful time enjoying french village life.
Lorriane, Marky and Peter Brinkley visited the Auvergne and with Jacqueline we explored the area including the Puy de Dome, Clermont Ferrand
and Le Sancy.
Jacqueline
& I visited several other areas of France. Also Jacqueline studied in Brest for 1 year
and I visited her there twice; once by cycling from Rostof. We explored Finistere including Le Conquet and Ile
d'Ouessant. We were stranded for the night on one of the islands when we missed the last ferry.