Friday, October 10, 2014
Neither of us slept well on our final night in Sarlat. It was too bad because I have really come to like this soft squishy bed. I can settle right into it and since we don’t seem to be able to adjust the thermostat, but just turn the AC on or off, we both snuggle up under the heavy duvet they have in lieu of sheets and blanket. Anyway, I couldn’t seem to stop the tremor until after 2am. Clay said he only slept until 2am, I guess my going still woke him. In any event, he woke me before our alarm went off at 4am and I was out of the shower by the time the room phone rang with Monika’s 4:30am ordered wakeup call. We went down with our luggage to put under the bus about 2 to 5 minutes before 5am. The dining room door was open but no one was in there and we had our luggage to get rid of anyway. We found Cathy, the bus driver, standing in the lobby with what looked like Monika’s luggage. We asked her if we could take it out to the bus and she walked out there with us and put in right by the door up front. She locked it and we went back inside to wait for the now closed dining room to open. It was 5am on the nose by my watch when Monika started berating them to open up. We had our usual breakfast, just a lot earlier.
Everyone was on time, the bus was loaded and we were off
by 6am. We had a 10 minute technical stop at a truck stop about 2 hours into
the drive. Monika pretty much stayed on the microphone after that. She did have
the lights off and quiet for the first 2 hours so people could sleep. That part
has such curvy, up & down roads and it was so foggy and rainy that I felt carsick
and couldn’t really sleep until we hit the freeway. Then I slept off and on for
about an hour. Off and on because the guy behind me’s watch alarm kept going
off every 15 minutes. We had heard it during breakfast everyday but assumed he
had it set to take pills or something. But it was going off every 15 minutes
well before our usual breakfast time which makes us think that he just can’t
hear it and doesn’t realize it is going off. Oh, well. I had been watching for
animals in the headlights of the pre-dawn darkness. I didn’t see anything.
When
we got back on the bus right after the technical stop as we were re-entering
the freeway we passed a green pasture, or field, and there must have been 100
gray rabbits out in that field. It was crazy! That is the only wildlife we have
seen in southwest France other than birds and escargot! We got to the Bordeaux
airport a little past 9am. Monika announced that she would unload in front of
Terminal A because our BA flight at 10:20am was the first of the group's and the
others mostly needed Terminal B but they had time and she would walk them down.
Cathy opened the door where she put our bags and we pulled them right out and
set off for security. Monika came running up with a cart that I know I had told
her several times we did not need. I hope she found someone else who needed it
and that she got her Euro back.
The security line was short and they opened 2
more x-ray machines after we got in line, so we were through in plenty of time.
Then we had to go through French passport control to get to the gate 14 that
was posted for us. Now we were trapped and with nowhere to sit. Gate 13 was
right next to ours and was an international flight to Montreal by TransIt that
was supposed to have departed at 8-something AM but was still sitting at the gate
with all its waiting passengers sprawled over every available surface in the
contained area. We stood until they started to call boarding for our flight.
Then we stood in a cluster nearer the jetway door. They never did call our seats or Ruby category, but we were some of the last in
line anyway since we just couldn’t get across the room in the crowds. This was
a different plane than the last one. It was still about an hour flight and this
time they served either potato chips or a cookie with beverages. You wouldn’t
even get a drink on a one hour flight in the US!
We arrived in Gatwick a little
late but got through immigration quickly, even though BA did not give us landing
cards to fill out onboard, so we had to stand in arrivals and do it. Thankfully
Clay had bought our return Gatwick Express tickets because there were crazy
lines to buy tickets, but we just had to find our way from North to South
Terminal and we were off. He paid £44.70 for them online before we left home
and we picked them up when we arrived at Victoria Station on the inbound trip. It
was about 1pm by the time we walked into the Comfort Inn from Victoria Station.
While Clay checked us in, I logged on to the Internet at the lobby terminal for free and printed our boarding passes for £1. (Clay was peeved because he did not recall being charged for printing on our way over, but we were.) Clay had prepaid £67.15 when he booked early online, so the price was right. This is the same place we stayed
at outbound. We got room 605 this time. It is probably the category that we
actually booked this time. It is below the ground floor and very much smaller.
It does have a daylight window though. The bed is very hard. The good news is that we don’t seem to feel the trains as
much in this room as we did the half floor above the ground floor last time. Sorry, no photos. I don't know how Clay missed this one!
We dropped our bags and used the restrooms and found our
Oyster Cards and set off back to Victoria Station. Clay had chosen to return to
the National Gallery today to revisit the 2 Vermeers they have. We wound up at
the Embankment Tube stop because they made the announcement too late in the train about no
connections at Charing Cross. As we were trying to find a platform to back
track, I saw a sign outside the turnstiles that said Charing Cross station was
a 5 minute walk up the street. It was probably closer than that and the
National Gallery was probably only 5 minutes walk. In addition, out the back
side of Embankment Station was a new pedestrian bridge across the Thames with
great views of the London Eye and Big Ben and the Parliament and much more.
Anyway, I just ran out of energy and couldn't go anymore as we were walking up to Charing Cross and I had to have
something to eat. We stopped in at a Pret a Manger shop and got a cup of bircher
muesli and a bottle of water. I have what feels like the beginning of a sore
throat and I ache all over. If I am just now getting sick it is a miracle after
being in the bus every day with some clearly unwell people. Fingers crossed
that if I am getting sick that I wait until we get home. We walked on to
Trafalgar Square and sat on the edge of the fountain to eat and drink. We then
went in and found the Vermeers and then looked through most of the
Impressionists and the Renaissance and 17th century collections
before calling it quits.
On the way back to the Comfort Inn, we found a place to buy
my little stash of Fox’s Glacier Mints since I had recently opened my last bag.
We also stopped and put £5 on each of our Oyster Cards for the trip back to
Heathrow on Piccadilly Line tomorrow morning.
We stopped in at the St. George in between the Comfort Inn
and Victoria Station again. This is where we ate on the way over and I think
Clay wanted a repeat experience. So, we had one. We got there about 3:45pm and
the lunch specials ended at 4pm. So, the waitress sent him up to the bar to
order and we got a repeat meal. Three Old Spot sausages in some kind of dark brown
sauce or gravy for me over mashed potatoes and then Clay got the beer that came
with it. He ordered fish & chips off the regular menu. He offered to
complete the experience with a crepe from across the street and over we went. I
had toffee this time and he had hazelnut gelato. We got back into the Comfort Inn early and I typed
while Clay used the Internet and we went to bed early. We have to get up early in
the morning again.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Clay got his Northumberland sausage sandwich this morning at The Upper Crust at Victoria Station! This was a regular meal for him when he had his extended work stay in London a few years ago and he has been craving a reprise. Unfortunately, the last several times we have passed through a Tube stop with a shop the timing has been off, until now. Finally!
The trip home was uneventful. It is a longer flight on the return. Couple with the fact that it is all daytime. The flight over is an hour shorter and they served you dinner, let you sleep and then feed you breakfast. It seems to go by quite quickly. The return flight is all day time with lunch and a snack as I recall. So, it lasts an hour longer without all the food and sleeping. The good news is that we both watched both movies. AA did not provide headsets at no charge on this flight as they had outbound when we didn't get them because we weren't watching. Good news, we both had a set with us anyway. Bad news was that I did get sick. It took me a couple of weeks to get back to normal. All better now!
So, that's the end. Dordogne lived up to or exceeded all expectations. We can recommend Village Life in Dordogne.
Photos
Photos
