Well we left Holland and traveled through Belgium again to the North of France,this is where we first discover just how hard it can be to find a campground in Winter.
We decide that if we get off the motorway we might have more hope so we detour along some beautiful country roads and through some quaint villages, but it seems that civilization is hibernating for the winter. Eventually we end up at our planned destination of Villers-Bretonneux
Villers-Bretonneux is the site of an Australian war cemetery and monument commemorating the liberation of the village by Australian soldiers in 1916. It is also where my grandfather and his brother Allan were stationed and fought in the first world war.
Fortunately for me my Grandfather returned but his brother Allan lost his life here and his name is listed on the memorial. There is also an Australian War Museum housed inside a school which was built by the people of the State of Victoria so it was quite interesting and unpleasant to see a snapshot of the life these young soldiers endured during there time here and as we are here during winter we can appreciate a little more the weather conditions only we are not living in a trench and it is not raining or snowing.
We wake next morning in a pleasant little caravan park in Bresle It is -5 degrees so I turn the gas heater on psssssss oh oh we are out of gas think I will go back to bed for a while.
When I get up I convince our Spanish speaking host with my best French accent to make us coffee before we head off to Grande Paris!!!
We stop several times along the way in order to fill the gas bottle or exchange it but we are finding some difficulty and before you know it we have forgotten the gas as we are driving into Paris and we are acquiring little glimpses of the Eiffel Tower.
We find a good caravan park and I ask the concierge for directions to obtain some gas, well he sends me on a wild goose chase and I spend an hour negotiating Parisian traffic as well as the French language at several gas stations, deciding that I was getting nowhere I return to the park and confront the concierge, so he makes some phone calls and we discover that nobody will exchange an English bottle and there is only 1 place in Paris that fills bottles and as this is Sunday They are not open so I go to plan B.
I hire a European bottle, unfortunately the cross channel unpleasantries extend to gas fittings so we are unable to cook dinner just yet, after some French advice in French I have deducted that we need to find a French hardware department store by the name of Castorama so we are back in the van and crossing the Seine in search of fittings.
Let me tell you at this point our Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS unit purchased from Johnnyappleseed has been worth more than anyone can imagine, but it had a little bit of trouble when we entered a tunnel which opened into roadwork’s that had altered the course of the route we were traveling causing the GPS to become totally confused and ensuring we give up our chase for fittings. Never to be outdone I figure we can turn this disaster into a wonderful adventure and turn off the GPS and line up the well lit (by this time) Eiffel Tower navigating the Parisian streets we finally entered the craziest roundabout I have driven around the Arch De Triumph (I don’t know what the rules are I think it is biggest first) and down the Champs Elysee, back over the Seine and past the Eiffel Tower to the squeals and delights of Cointha and Daniel.
If you think the Tower is magnificent then make sure you see it at night if you ever get the chance.
Next day sees us on a red double decker bus (English hmmmm) which allows us 2 days of sight seeing hopping on and off at all the major sight as many times as you like. Oh and a trip to Castorama where I get all the fittings I need and few extras.
Our 3 days in Paris was fantastic the weather was beautiful blue skies and we are looking forward to returning here in June.
Lyon is our next target and we set off again heading south in search of another camping ground between Paris and Lyon lets see how we get on.