Our day started with a visit to the world’s largest Saturday market. It took us an hour car ride to get there but it was worth the drive. The market covers 35 acres and has over 15,000 stalls divided into sections. Each section sells different goods. There were stalls selling clothes, housewares, toys, hardware, luggage, fabrics, souvenirs, and pretty much anything you else can imagine.

The market was started in 1942 as a government initiative to create markets in every province. It has operated on its current site since 1982. The market also had lots of food vendors. The number of people plus the heat made it an intense few hours of wandering and looking at all the choices of goods. It was sad in a way that so many of the vendors were selling similar goods. For example, we saw hundreds of vendors selling pants with elephants on them. There were some stalls where you could find local products, but many were obviously selling only what the tourists might like.

We decided to stop for a beer before finding our way back to the market entrance to wait for our next Grab ride. Our next stop was the Jim Thompson museum. It took forever (it seemed) to get there, but the site was beautiful. We decided to start with lunch and the hamburgers were delicious. It was only when we finished that we learned that you could only take guided tours of the museum and the next tour would be in one hour. We left without seeing the museum as it was too warm to just hang around. While we didn’t buy anything in the gift shop (silk is expensive!), it was interesting to see what was available.

The museum is housed in a building built in 1952 . Jim was instrumental in reviving the Thai silk trade and weaving production. The museum houses his art and furnishings that came from his years travelling while marketing silk. He was very successful in his many endeavours. In addition to being a business person, he was also a spy during WWII, who, after several years in Bangkok, disappeared on a trip to Malaysia and was never seen again.

An original pattern for silk weaving in Thailand

We left the museum and headed back to relax before going out for a leisurely dinner. Tomorrow is an exciting day as we have a guide and a driver picking us up for a full day outside of Bangkok.

We started our day with a coffee run before piling into a Grab car (the local version of Uber) and headed off to the National Museum. The drive took about an hour through busy streets, including the heart of Chinatown. The community is in full preparation for the upcoming lunar new year.

We arrived at the National Museum and spent the next few hours exploring.. The Wang Na (Front Palace) complex is composed of several historical buildings near the Grand Palace. It was originally built in 1782 as a royal residence for Prince Viceroys (i.e., a home for brothers or sons of the king who were “next in line”). The role faded as the last viceroy died and the palace was abandoned. In 1887 King Rama V moved the Royal museum to the site. In 1926, King Rama VII established it as a national museum. The collections and buildings have expanded over the years to include exhibits about history of the Thai people, art, fine arts and archeology.

Just as we were developing “museum back” from the strain of walking through amazing exhibits, we found a restaurant on the site. It was surprisingly quiet and the Pad Thai was rejuvenating.

The museum housed too much to take in all at once but we tried. We appreciated the statuary and the numerous depictions of gods and Buddha. Happily there was great signage in English telling us what we were looking at.

Greg has become an expert at booking our Grab Cars and we left the museum to check out the International Fashion Company. A kind man at the boat pier on our first day had suggested this was a great place to get “bespoke” clothing made. We were welcomed in and the hard sell began. It became clear that this was not going to work for us as the sales people were eager to tell us about the material available but not about the cost. Apparently having 6 perfectly tailored shirts was the starting point. This was definitely a tourist trap that left us feeling like we had just stepped into a time-share sale. We left without buying and started looking for beer.

We returned to our residence for a bit of a relax before venturing out again. We are getting into the rhythm here. Taking a mid afternoon break is needed in this climate. Our evening adventure was a trip to the Pink Bar in a high rise building near our residence. We took the elevator to the 61 floor and took the opportunity to relax, take in the view and share a delicious ($388 Cnd, 8800 Baht) bottle of Beaujolais. The view made the indulgence worth it. We watched the sun set over the city. It is a vast sprawl housing 12 million people.

We finished our evening with a Middle Eastern meal and returned to our residence to crash heavily and prepare for tomorrow’s visit to another museum and another market.

We all slept soundly and started out day with a wonderful latte and pre-breakfast croissant before heading out for the day. We have learned that most food options don’t open until after 10 am. So we relaxed and continued structuring the rest of our week. More about that later.

Our plan today was to explore Bangkok from the Chao Phraya River. We headed to the pier and stopped at a food market for breakfast along the way. I had never considered green curry and rice a breakfast food, but it was delicious and kept me fuelled all day. The price for the whole meal was 65 Baht or 2,85 CDN$.

We made our way to the pier and boarded the hop on / hop off boat. It was a great way to see the city and to save some steps. It was 35C again today with 49% humidity. There were many temples, palaces and interesting buildings on the river banks. We didn’t always know what they were but they were beautiful.

We were somewhat ambitious in our choice to walk from our first hop off to the flower market. We had the chance to see some interesting street art and buildings.

However, we underestimated the distance and, like mad dogs and Englishmen, we were out walking in the midday sun. However the walk was worth it. The flowers were spectacular with so many different varieties from real to crafted and single flowers to elaborate bouquets. The market also carried foliage and vegetables. It was a bit challenging at times to wander through the narrow lanes between stalls as they were filled with vendors, patrons and motorbikes.

A unique aspect of walking in Bangkok is that you have a 40% higher chance of dying in a pedestrian/vehicle crash than anywhere else in the world. This fact has influenced our road crossing style. Step 1 – make sure you want to cross. Step 2 – make sure everyone is ready to cross. Step 3 – make sure you are in a cross walk (red area on the road). Step 4 – wait for locals to start walking and boldly follow suit. It is imperative that you don’t waiver in your resolve to cross and believe that the vehicles will stop. We have survived all of our attempts so far.

We continued to another pier to get back on the river and encountered a wonderful, air-conditioned restaurant in which to quench our thirst. The restaurant served us pitchers of cold beer and we realized that there was hope that we would make it back to our residence alive. Sightseeing, especially in 35 degree weather is thirsty work.

Our last stop of the tour before heading home was the Wang Lang Market and is part of the city’s old quarter. It has been operating since the early 17th century. Want Lang translates into “Rear Palace” because it was originally behind a royal palace and then eventually took over the palace grounds when the palace went into decay. It is known as the best street food market in Bangkok. It had everything and more. While lots of food looked fantastic, the heat and jet lag had us not inclined to sample much. We have other markets to visit later this week so we weren’t feeling deprived.

We made our way back to our residence to rest and revitalize before heading out this evening for a later dinner. We wandered to a nearby hotel for dinner but, since the guys were in shorts, we were denied entry. It was perhaps a bit hoity for our needs. We wandered a little further and found a delightful place that served incredible food. Dale had battered and deep-fried morning glory (also called water spinach). We all tried something a bit different and it was all delicious. We walked back to our residence feeling satisfied after a wonderful day. Since it is after 9pm, we are ready for sleep and another active day tomorrow.

We arrived in Bangkok today at 6:30am (Wednesday). We left home at 5:30 Edmonton time on Monday. We flew to Vancouver and boarded our 16.5 hour flight to Bangkok around 11:05 pm. We survived the journey well but somehow we missed Tuesday altogether. The business class seats allowed us to lay flat to sleep. The food was excellent and I got to watch almost all of season 1 of The Pitt. Our Air B&B arranged for us to be picked up at the airport and our blinged out van took us into the Bang Rak district of the city.

Our Air B&B is lovely. It has 5 rooms on 4 floors. We managed to bring our luggage up all the stairs and then we went searching for food. We headed down a side street and found this lovely establishment that had room for us.

The food was delicious and the beer was definitely a highlight.

We wandered to the river to scope out options for tomorrow’s travels then returned to our suites to have a nap. We learned that the King’s mother had passed away recently and there were tributes to her across the country and many of the federal buildings were draped with black and white banners to show mourning. We were conscious of the need to shift into our new time zone so we all pledged to stay awake until at least 9pm local time. We all had naps and then walked down to Chinatown for our pre-dinner stroll. The weather here is hot and humid with the temperature hitting 35C.

We found a local restaurant for supper. The 6 of us had 5 different versions of Pad Thai. The food was excellent and now we have all crashed in our air conditioned rooms with a plan for a good night’s rest. The “we” I refer to on this trip are Greg, Jane, Jacquie, Brian and Dale. We will meet up with our tour group from Road Scholar on Monday and travel through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

We learned a lesson this week. Never rent a place without air conditioning! Our apartment has all sorts of nice features, what it didn’t have was air conditioning or any form of fan. We sweltered in the heat and then, just as we were crashing for the night, a thunderstorm erupted. Rain, lightening and hail! I was hoping the storm would cool things off, but it didn’t. We were grateful today that it is cooler, more overcast and a bit breezier.

We spent our last day in Paris at the Musee D’Orsay. We loved the exhibit on posters from the late 1800/early 1900s.

We also explored the impressionist exhibit.

The piece de la resistance of this museum for me was the art nouveau carved room.

Part of the joy of this museum is the building itself. This former train station is beautifully decorated.

We viewed our fill and then started to wander towards the Louvre. We had no intention of going inside on this trip but thought it would be fun to see what changes had been done to the grounds as a result of the Olympics. They were setting up a stage for Music Week in France so we didn’t get a good sense of how things look now, but the Olympic “flame” is still tethered in the park.

We only got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower on this trip. So perhaps we will have to come back.

Our homeward journey starts tomorrow.

We had a sleepy start to our day. Yesterday wiped us out more than we expected it to so we relaxed with an extra cup of coffee before setting out for Le Marais district. We took the Metro to the Chatelet station and walked the rest of the way to Place Des Vosges.

This was the first planned community in Paris and is an enclosed square of homes with a formal garden in the centre (now a park).

We stopped for a refreshing beer break before getting a look at Victor Hugo’s home, the only home that is open to the public. The City of Paris runs the museum dedicated to Victor Hugo. We enjoyed not only the exhibit, but the free admission.

Our next stop was the Marche des Enfants Rouges (market of the red children). It is the oldest covered market in Paris, established in 1615. It is named after a nearby hospice for orphaned children who were typically clad in red uniforms. It is now a cacophony of restaurants serving any type of food you might desire.

We did the circuit of options a few times before the guys zoned in on the Burger Fermier. OMG was it ever a good choice. The server talked us into the local cheese and the delicious “sauce” (which turned out to be an amazing version of mayo) for the fries. Greg declared it the best burger he has ever eaten. We ordered the burgers done medium. I am sure that no restaurant in Edmonton would be allowed to serve a burger this rare (for shame!)

We needed to continue strolling to wear off the lunch time calories, so off we went to find the Maille mustard store. It was a long walk interrupted by a short stop at a pharmacy to buy me some blister bandaids. My feet were swollen from the heat and the straps of my sandals were not my friend. The temperature was in the 30s again today and we were all feeling the impact of the walking and heat combo.

The Maille store became a target following a prompt from Amanda, my culinary buddy in Edmonton. The store was amazing with a huge amount of mustard, pickle and other condiments to taste. It was also hugely busy so we bought a few momentos looked for a place for a happy hour beer.

Our last beer of the day was needed to give us enough of a rest for our weary feet for the final drive to, of all places, St. Lazare Metro Station. You can tell by the look on these two fellows just what the impact of walking 6.7 miles in 30+ degree heat looks like.

Despite vowing to never eat again after our lunch, we started to get hungry. We dined on baguette, roast chicken and veggies on the balcony of our apartment. We have enjoyed eating out for lunch, usually spending 20-30 euro per person for an appetizer, main course and beverage. Our evening meals have typically cost us less than 15 euro for cheese, veggies, a protein of some kind and wine for all three of us. This way of eating has also allowed us to shop like locals.

Tomorrow is our last day in Paris before heading home on Sunday. We have a low key sightseeing day planned before we start packing. We have had a great trip but are ready to go home to the smoke from forest fires, the severe thunderstorm warnings and the new wasp nest in the garage! There is no place like home.

We commuted from the country to the city yesterday. We left our country home early to make the 2.5 hour drive to return our car on time. We were glad we did because we were the victim of a 45 minute delay on the highway – either there was an accident, or as the car rental person opined, it was a manifestation (a protest) by taxi drivers that shut down various roads around Paris.

Driving in Paris is not for the faint of heart and my cousin Greg did a marvellous job of getting us to the car rental at St. Lazare station. What we didn’t know before our drive is that this station is the oldest train station in Paris (built in 1837), one of the 7 main train stations in Paris and the 3rd busiest station in all of France. It is right in the heart of Paris but close to our apartment in the Clichy area. We might have chosen a different drop off point with this knowledge, but hey, who doesn’t want to live dangerously every now and then?

The Clichy district is home to the L’Oréal and Bic companies as well as a hugely residential community. After finding our apartment and depositing our stuff, we quickly found a cafe to restore us. It worked well enough that we decided to venture into Paris proper and do some sightseeing. We knew we would never get into Notre Dame without a reservation but decided to go and take a look anyway. We were correct. The “drop in” line was huge and moving quickly, but it was 32 degrees Celsius so we decided to explore the exterior and check this iconic structure from our list.

Despite being a showpiece for the Olympics, there is still a lot to be done and work is ongoing. The parts that have been restored are mainly at the front of the church and inside the main part where the Olympic Festivities took place. There is still obviously years of restoration work to be done.

We enjoyed looking at some of the gargoyles and grotesques around the church. I am not sure if this fellow is quazitmoto but I want to think it is.

The famous gargoyles are still in front of the church, spouting water off the roof as they were intended to do.

We were hot and tired and considered it a good idea to explore the archeological museum of Paris that is located below the cathedral. It was cooler but either we were really tired or it was a really boring museum so we didn’t linger. We made our way back to our apartment, mastering how to buy tickets to the Metro/RER system. We stopped at the bakery next to our apartment for baguettes and then the grocery store across the street for wine and finished our day with a wonderful cold dinner of ham, veggies and cheese – oh and butter, the French butter is fantastic. I could eat it like cheese, and I did.

We had originally planned a day at Monet’s home of Giverny. We changed our minds when we realized it was closer to Paris than we expected. So we shifted our gears and went to the Basilica of Lisieux . It was incredible!

The Basilica was constructed in 1929 and consecrated in 1954. It houses the relics of St. Therese, a Carmelite nun also known as the little flower of Jesus. She is a sub-patron saint of France, Mary is the formal patron saint. She is also the patrons saint of missionaries, florists, pilots and priests. Therese became a cloistered nun at age 15 in Lisieux. Before she died of tuberculosis at the age of 24, she wrote a book called The Story of a Soul which described her theology. She is one of four women who have been declared “Doctors of the Church” by a pope. She became hugely popular for her holiness and was beatified and canonized within 28 years of her death. This basilica is the second most popular place of pilgrimage in France after Lourdes.

The building’s interior is stunningly beautiful. It was built with donations from faithful Catholics around the world.

During WWII 2/3 of Lisieux was heavily bombed after D-Day. People sought safety in the crypts for days while the bombing and shelling hit. Some of the upper Basilica was damaged but the crypts held and the people hiding there were saved.

We left the Basilica and shifted to St. Peter’s Cathedral in downtown Lisieux. This is where St. Therese attended mass daily. It originated as early as the 6th but for sure by the 12th Century and was finally completed in the 18th Century. Pierre Cauchon, a Catholic bishop, who was appointed the judge of the trial of Joan of Arc is buried here. He was pro-British in the 100 years war and he played a key role in making sure she was burned at the stake in 1431. Despite its grisly history, the building is beautiful.

We stopped for lunch in Livarot with the idea of going to a cheese tasting at a local farm. However, after a hearty meal, that seemed unwise so we took a bit of a stroll in that town ending up at our third church of the day. Livarot is a quaint village with many medieval buildings on the main road. The church was small, in poor repair, but trying hard to stay current.

Our final stop of the day was at the Chateau Saint0Germain de Livet. This castle was stunning. The admission was free and included a guided English tour.

We had to wait for the tour so we toured the lovely gardens and watched the ducks and tame peacocks for an hour.

The tour guide was fun as we tested my ability to translate specific French words into English. We had fun.

We are now back at our digs for our last night in St. Ouen Le Pin. It has been lovely.

Tomorrow we head out early for Paris. We are hoping to have our car back by 11 and then we head to our last VRBO in the 17th Arrondissement of Paris by 1pm. We have a few fairly unstructured days in Paris before heading home Sunday.

I have enjoyed starting the day with a wonderfully flaky pastry. I am sure however, that this habit will not cross the ocean with me.

We arrived at the Chateau Falaise just after it opened. This is where William the Conqueror was born and raised.

There were story boards by the parking lot describing how Falaise was liberated in 1945 as part of Operation Overlord. D-Day was June 6 and the plan had been to have Falaise free by June 10. It took until August 9th for the Canadians (i.e., South Saskatchewan Regiment, The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada and the Fusiliers Mont-Royal) to finally gain control of Falaise. I have learned a great deal about WWII and its impact on the French. The pictures of the devastation inflicted at the time doesn’t match what has been rebuilt and it is hard to not think about what has been overcome. This said, we were about to walk into a castle that has withstood at least 5 sieges over the centuries and German occupation in more recent history. War has been a part of history for millennium and we haven’t learned to avoid it yet.

Our next stop was at the statue dedicated to William the Conqueror in the town square. It was impressive.

The castle grounds are open to the public without charge. The atmosphere is park-like It is only when you want to go into the castle that you have to purchase a ticket. We started our tour at the same time a group of young children (kindergarten/grade 1) were starting thiers. While they had a French speaking guide with a jester hat on to interpret the site for them, we were given tablets that, when held over an icon in each room, would give information about the room and show us a picture of what it would have looked like in William the Conqueror’s time. It was impressive tech and the story-telling was good. In each room there was a projected image animating the story of different characters in the “William the Conqueror/Battle of Hastings” story. There is an ongoing collaboration between British and French historians to tell an integrated story in both England and France.

The final room of the castle had a movie that told the whole story from William’s birth to his coronation as the King of England. It was well done and left me impressed that, within less than one year of the King of England’s death, William planned an invasion, equipped an army, invaded effectively, taunted his foe to make sure he fought before William’s troops ran out of supplies, fought and took over England. The guy was a great project manager.

Looking for something entirely different, we went searching for Beuvron-sur-Aug, one of France’s “most beautiful villages”, as a place for lunch. We have learned that the title is another way of describing a quaint tourist trap. The food was good and it was a pleasant was community to walk through.

Our last challenge of the day was to find a cidery and do a calvados tasting. We have been staying in the Calvados region and on the “Cider Route”. We lucked into stopping at a lovely domaine just a few km from our residence. The Pierre Huot domaine has been producing cider and calvados (I.e., apple brandy) since 1865. We arrived just as a bus load of seniors were leaving the tasting room. We asked if we could do a tasting of cider and calvados and we were treated to a generous sampling of both liquids. Both were delicious and we bought samples to sip tonight and to bring home to share.

Our last stop of the day matched our first as we stopped at our local bakery to pick up quiche for dinner. It was delicious! Tomorrow we are off to Giverny and Lisieux for our last day in Normandy before heading to Paris.