Europe Photo Gallery Finally Done! January 17, 2008
Posted by Travis Ruff in : Trip to Europe , 5commentsI know that it has been quite a while, but the Europe photo gallery has finally been completed. Click on the ‘Galleries’ tab above, then select the Europe gallery.
Final Blog September 29, 2007
Posted by Spencer Ruff in : Trip to Europe , add a commentSome photographs from our trip will be posted soon. Click ‘galleries’ to access to photographs.
HOME AGAIN September 29, 2007
Posted by Spencer Ruff in : Trip to Europe , add a commentWe packed our luggage for one last time, checked out of the hotel and took the airport shuttle tram to the airport terminal 2, electronically checked in for our flight to Amsterdam, ate breakfast, went through security and took a seat in the boarding area. Unknown to us, because they did not announce it in English, the boarding gate location was changed from 33 to 28. We noticed on the electronic boarding sign that boarding was taking place and went to the desk to find no plane and no staff. We noticed the change in boarding gate location and proceeding to the correct boarding gate-you ain’t there until you’re there.
The 45 minute flight to Amsterdam was uneventful. At the Amsterdam airport we went through another security check including passport review and x-raying of carry on items to discover this was a pre-boarding procedure. We entered another boarding seating area to await the actual boarding of the plane-you ain’t there until you’re there.
We finally boarded the plane to be notified that departure was being delayed until 12 passengers from a Rome flight could be boarded as their flight had been delayed. After they arrived we were notified that there would be another delay until some air conditioning problems were resolved. We were notified that there would be another delay until the necessary paper work was taken care of for the air conditioning problem-you ain’t there until you’re there.
We finally departed with a promise that we would make up the time lost. The mechanical problems continued with the plane staff attempting to get the on board movie system working in our seating area with no success. The reminder of the flight was uneventful but boring as there was no music to listen to or movies to watch.
We were making our final approach to the airport after about 9 hours of flight time when we were notified that the final approach was not possible and that we were going into a ‘holding pattern’ for an unknown amount of time-you ain’t there until you’re there.
Fortunately, the delay was short. We were finally on the ground, deplaned, went though customs, got our luggage and were picked up by Travis and Kelli. We ate supper at one of our favorite Italian restaurants, went to their townhouse to transfer all our photographs into their computer-about 2500-and departed for the drive to our Rochester home. Thanks Travis and Kelli for being so helpful and considerate.
Upon arrival we discovered that the lawn had been mowed, that our house had been cleaned, that breakfast items were stocked, that our bed cover was turned down, and there was a piece of candy on each pillow.Thanks to the Ohl’s for being so helpful and considerate.
We had a great trip but it is wonderful to be safely home and to sleep in our own bed. We are already discussing our next international trip but we will be back on Monday to Sioux Falls to the reality of our architectural practice.
We are truly blessed with family and friends. We thank God for His many blessings, for all the guardian angels that He provided to protect and guide us during our travels and for delivering us safely HOME AGAIN.
YOU AIN’T THERE UNTIL YOU’RE THERE September 27, 2007
Posted by Spencer Ruff in : Trip to Europe , add a commentThe lesson we learned several times today is that you ain’t there until your’re there.
We packed up and left our hotel early with the idea of driving the autoexpress directly to the Palace of Versaille which is located just outside of Paris. Unfortunately, we had not even left Blois before we turned on the wrong road and ended up on the east side of the Loire River instead of the west side-you ain’t there until you’re there.
A half an hour after leaving our hotel we were on the right road to Versaille via the autoexpress. This segment of the trip was uneventful until we arrived in the town of Versaille instead of the palace of Versaille. We finally located signs directing us to the Palace only to drive by the parking lot-you ain’t there until you’re there.
We drove into the parking lot and located a ‘Sharon parking stall’ -one located adjacent to the entrance. We walked to the vast plaza in front of the palace to discover that there were two long lines of people. First you buy the tickets by standing in one line and then go stand in another line to get into the palace-you ain’t there until you’re there.
The palace exterior is impressive but the interior is unbelieveable. The rooms are more elaborate as you get nearer to the room in which the king would receive you into his royal presence. There is no way to describe the artwork, statues, moldings, furniture, etc that is in every room. The walls and ceilings are covered with marble, stone and wood carvings, murals, velvet, and paintings. Each state room that you enter is dedicated to a Greek Olympian deity. The climax is the Hall of mirrors which stretches 233′ along the west facade. A unique room is the Queen’s bedroom where the queens of France gave birth to royal children in public view to prove that the child was her’s.
The gardens adjacent to the Palace stretch for miles behind the Palace, featuring landscaped plots, statues, bubbling fountains, a grand Canal, and several smaller palaces.
We left the Palace about 2:30 PM to give us time to get to the hotel, check in, unload the luggage and return the rental car. Tom Tom delivered us right to the front door of the Ibis hotel-the wrong hotel but the right chain of hotels-You ain’t there until you’re there.
We decided to return the rental car first and then locate the hotel. On the way to the rental car return we saw another Ibis hotel, turned into the parking lot to discover it was the right hotel, Sharon took the luggage into the hotel while I parked the car. We then went to our room, unloaded our luggage and returned to the car to take it to the rental car return.
We put our trust in TOM TOM which directed us to an huge parking structure in which we wove our way up curved ramps, through a variety of rental car return areas until we finally located 3 parking stalls for Budget rental cars. We parked in one of the stalls and I went to look for a return desk but could not find one-you ain’t there until you’re there.
We finally located a helpful Frenchmen who though he spoke little English was able to tell us that we needed to take the elevator to the arrival level where the rental return desks are located. Upon arrival at the desk we discovered no one was there to help us-you ain’t there until you’re there.
We used the phone to call Budget and a lady told us to put the car key in a drop box and be on our way. We hope that the car has been successfully returned but you ain’t there until your there.
We then located an information desk to determine how to get from the rental car return to terminal three where the hotel is located. We were informed that we needed to take the airport tram, which was located one level down, to the train station and then walk to terminal 3-about a 5 minute walk. Upon arrival at the terminal 3 exit we were pleased to discover we were at our hotel. Sometimes you’re there when you not there.
We took the elevator to our room, cleaned up a little and then went in search of terminal 2F where our plane departs for Amsterdam tomorrow morning and to find a place to have a hot sit down meal. We found the departure area and returned to the hotel to eat in their cafe and bar. We looked at the menu, ordered a beer and a glass of wine and told the waiter that we wanted to place an order. He never came back to take our meal order-you ain’t there until you’re there.
We finally left the bar-cafe to discover that the restaurant which was closed had opened up. We enjoyed a great meal and dessert and are presently in our room.
We hope that tomorrow will be a day in which we do not experience ‘you ain’t there until you’re there.
A LAZY DAY September 26, 2007
Posted by Spencer Ruff in : Trip to Europe , add a commentWe slept late, had a late breakfast, walked around downtown Blois, purchased some picnic items and decided to just drive around aimlessly in the Loire and Cher River Valleys. We headed toward Amboise, stopped along the Loire River to look at birds,looked at the exterior of the chateau in Amboise ,wandered around the historic downtown, purchased some pastry to add to our picnic lunch and ate our picnic in the car because it was cold and rainy to sit outside.
Drove to Loches, walked around the Chateau and drove roads through towns and villages back to Blois.
We finished off the items left from our picnic for supper with the addition of some more pastry and researched Versaille.
Tomorrow we drive to Versaille-we have saved the largest and best Palace for last-and then will return the rental car and stay at a hotel at the airport.
It has been our experience that the French are not rude, that most of them really do not speak English, that most drivers are not agressive and have better road manners then Americans, that if you do not speak French you will feel isolated, that McDonalds restaurants are located in almost all towns and that the French love Big Macs, that about 1.5 million French love to hunt, that there seems to be a chateau around every turn in the road, and that new houses all look the same-12/12 roof slope, slate roof tile, rectangular plan, story and one half, real shutters on every window and door, and light brown colored stucco on concrete block exterior walls.
We have enjoyed our visit to the Loire River Valley with all the chateaus and the smaller towns with the narrow streets lined with shops and restaurants.
pluine?-Non September 25, 2007
Posted by Spencer Ruff in : Trip to Europe , 1 comment so farLast night the weather forecast was for rain(pluine) but there was no(Non) rain when we awoke this morning. The sky was blue with not a cloud in the sky. We ate our usual breakfast and got the car out of the parking garage. This was another new experience as there are no attendants to take the money. Instead you insert the ticket received upon entering the garage into a machine at the exit (sortie), the machine calculates the parking fee which you pay with coins, the gate opens and you drive out.
We drove to Chambord chateau on which construction was initiated by 25 year old King Francis I in 1519. Francis acceded to the throne in 1515, reconquer the Italian province of Milan, returned to France and stimulated by his victory undertook to build the chateau which he surrounded with a 2500 acre hunting preserve. The chateau was intended to be a hunting lodge but its architecture makes it an extravagant chateau which has 77 staircases, 282 fireplaces and 426 rooms. The hunting preserve has the same area as Inner Paris and is surrounded by a stone wall with 6 gates.
Francis reigned for 32 years but only spent 72 days at the chateau and never saw the chateau completed. His sons Henry II and Louis XIV, who were also keen hunters, completed the chateau. It is sad that none of the 3 kings who build the chateau spent much time there. After the French revolution the chateau sat empty for 70 years. A massive restoration project was required to restore it to its original glory.
We had lunch at the chateau and then departed for Chenonceau chateau. We had originally planned to visit this chateau tomorrow but changed our plans to take advantage of the beautiful weather.
Chenonceau was built by Thomas Bohier on the Cher River in the 16th century. On the 16th century oak front door is written the motto of Bohier and his wife Katherine “If I manage to build Chenonceau, I will be remembered”. Building the chateau was a difficult task as it was constructed to span across the Cher river. It makes Frank Lloyd Wrights’ Falling Water pale in comparison.
King Henri II gave the chateau to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. He was accidently killed during a tournament at which time his Queen, Catherine de Medicis took it back.
By the 18th century the chateau was owned by Madame Dupin who was the daughter of Samuel Bernard, Louis XIV’S banker. Chenonceau was saved from destruction during the French revolution by her kindness and generosity to the population that surrounded the chateau.
There are two gardens adjacent to the chateau. The Diane de Poitiers garden and the Catherine de Medici garden.
We decided since we were close to Tours to take a tour of Tours. Upon arrival in Tours we took an unplanned tour when we missed a right turn.
Tom Tom as usual got as on the right route and we headed back to Blois on the express high speed toll road which was another new experience. After driving for a short distance one stops at a toll booth and gets a ticket from a machine. Upon exiting the toll road you give the ticket to an attendant who calculates the toll or you insert the ticket into a machine and pay by credit card.
We ate supper and then decided to have Tom Tom locate a grocery store. The first one was closed so we tried a second one which was also closed.
We returned to our hotel too late for an evening pastry as all the shops were closed.
Some lessons learned:
1. When you see a toilet use it.
2. If you are a women be prepared to pay to use the toilet and bring your own toilet paper. Carry small change.
3. If you are a man be prepared to pay to to use the toilet for number 2 but not for number 1. Bring your own toilet paper.
4. Even the water will cost you as there are no drinking fountains.
5. There are a lot of one way streets so be careful and study what the road signs look like. No-I did not drive the wrong way but I came close.
6. Tom Tom is good but it does not know about closed roads and detours.
7. Parking is extremely limited, people park on sidewalks, cars parked on the street make a 2 way street into a one way street so be aware of on coming traffic-no, I did not collide with anyone.
8. There are no parking meters but you will pay to park. Locate the ticket dispensers and pay with coins for the amount of time you need. Display the ticket in the car window.
9. Parking tickets are extremely expensive. No-I have not gotten any tickets in France.
10. Petrol stations are few and far between in the rural areas. Many of the ones you will find are express meaning they only take credit card from the Company as in Esso.
11. When using your fingers to order anything two fingers(victory sign) means three. If you want one of something use your thumb, and if you want two use your thumb and index finger.
12. Being confused, lost, misunderstood,etc are part of the adventure so laugh about your misadventures and learn from them. You should see how lost the Japanese tourists appear as they huddle together in their tour groups. If they can make it so can you.
13. Roads are really narrow in the old parts of town so drive slowly. This will make the French driver mad and he will honk his horn. Do not pay any attention.
14. There are a lot of round-abouts rather then signal lights, so study how to use them. When going around them, turn on your left signals if you are not turning at the first exit and then your right signal when exiting.
15. Have a special partner along-as in Sharon- to share your adventure. It makes it twice as much fun.
A DAY IN BLOIS September 24, 2007
Posted by Spencer Ruff in : Trip to Europe , add a commentWe slept in this morning getting up about 8AM. We ate pastry for breakfast-it will be difficult when we get back to just have toast and jelly for breaqkfast. We walked up the hill to the Tourist information bureau where we picked up information about the Loire Valley Chateaus.
We then toured the Blois chateau Royal which sits on the hill over looking the Loire River and the Town of Blois. The chateau combines four distinct wings around a courtyard, with each wing corresponding to a distinct architectural period and style as follows:
GOTHIC WING: The medieval fortress was built from the 10th century onwards by the counts of Blois. The seignorial hall, the largest Gothic hall in France dating from the 13th century, is the most important vestige remaining.
FLAMBOYANT WING: This wing was built by King Louis XII from 1498 to 1503. It is constructed of brick and stone and contains a fine arts collection located in the former royal apartments.
RENAISSANCE WING: Built in less then 15 years from 1515 to 1524 this wing is a brilliant illustration of the Italian Renaissance combined with traditional French architecture. The projecting circular stair case is very unique.
CLASSICISM WING: Build for Louis XIII’s brother this wing is an excellence example of French Classical architecture.
We ate lunch, took a walking tour up the hill to Cathedral St-Louis Mairie, got rained on and then had a new adventure of doing laundry in a French LAVERIE-a self serve laundry with all the instructions in French. There is a central control unit in which you insert coins and then select the washer or dryer by a number on each washer and dryer. It took us a little using the French-English directory and symbols on the machines to figure out how to operate the system.
We took the clothes back to the hotel room and then departed on another walking tour through the medieval part of Blois. The center piece of the Medieval area is Saint-Nicolas Church which was constructed from 1138 to the start of the 13th century.
The pastry and the chocolate in Blois are outstanding but most of the restaurants are not open and the ones that are open serve the same menu. So we had a sandwich and of course some sweets for supper.
A great many of the shops and stores are not open as there are not a lot of tourists in town. It appears that the Parisians comes down for Friday and Saturday night so they are probably open then.
Today was a calm day for us as we left the car in the parking ramp. This may change tomorrow as we are going to drive to the chateau Chambord and take a tour of some of the small villages around the chateau.
STUCK IN REVERSE September 23, 2007
Posted by Spencer Ruff in : Trip to Europe , add a commentLast night while reviewing our itinerary we discovered that we had scheduled the rental car for Monday AM pick up rather then Sunday. We called the rental car company to reschedule and found out that the Budget car rental did not open up until 4PM at Gard du Nord Train Station. So we rescheduled the pick up at Charles DeGaulle airport. We then decided to cancel our hotel reservation at the Hotel Prince for September 27 and get a hotel room at the airport since that is where we will be returning the rental car.
We departed this morning for the airport via a shuttle van at 8:30AM, arrived at Budget Rental car desk to find it closed, attempted to call the phone number listed at the desk, talked to a family who said we needed to go to another desk in the airport, and started walking toward the desk when we met the Budget Car staff member. Did the usual check in and found the car-Renault Scenic-a really nice car. We loaded up, got the GPS working and attempted to put the car in REVERSE with no luck, found the car manual which of course is written in French, got out the french phrase book, found an appropriate expression for the way we felt “Ca pue” and then a Budget Rental employee pulled up in his car and said in a combination of English and sign language ”pull up on the ring on the shift lever.” So off we drove heading we hoped for the Loire River Valley south of Paris.
We had programmed the GPS to avoid toll roads because they are high speed and we wanted to see the Loire River valley and drive through the towns. We made a few wrong turns when leaving Paris but the GPS always corrected our errors and got us on the road system out of Paris. We drove through downtown Orleans and got tied up in a series of detours due to a large festival but once again the GPS got us on the road again. We stopped at McDonald’s to go to the bathroom and have lunch-a big Mac tasted good-and drove through several towns looking for a hotel. Near Blois I programmed the GPS to locate a hotel downtown and drove right up to an inexpensive but very nice hotel on the historic main street. We will tell you about the historic places in the town in tomorrows blog. After parking the car in an underground parking garage-there are no above ground urban sprawl type parking lots in this town-we toured the town by foot to get an over view, got a sandwich and some chocolate filled pastry and a Coke Light, and ate our supper in a small landscaped park over looking the Loire River. We discovered that the park sets on a 4 story below grade parking ramp. We continued our walking tour up and down stairs, down narrow streets filled with shops and apartments and restaurants, through parks-what an experience. We can not wait for tomorrow to come so we can really explore the town. We have never experienced such a delightful urban experience in America.
We will stay in Blois at least until tomorrow night. We met two American women who recommended another place to stay near by-we will report more on that later.
FOND FAREWELL September 22, 2007
Posted by Spencer Ruff in : Trip to Europe , add a commentThe Moore’s, Calverley’s and Schoenfeld’s departed for the United States today. Prior to their departure we walked to Rue Cler and had breakfast at a side walk cafe. After breakfast they were tempted by a sidewalk pastry shop and had dessert.
The hotel arranged a shuttle to take them to the Charles DeGaulle Airport for their flight to Amsterdam and then to Minneapolis. Our time together went much too fast.
After saying our farewell Sharon and I took a taxi to Cathedral Notre-Dame. Notre-Dame was built on the site of a Roman temple. Constructed started in 1163 starting two Centuries of toil by an army of Architects and medieval craftsmen. During the French Revolution the building was desecrated and renamed the Temple of Reason. Notre-Dame was extensively renovated in the 19th Century by the architect Viollet-le-Duc. Unfortunately the building is in need of another renovation. However, it is still a wonderful example of French Gothic and is used once again to worship God.
We when walked to Saint-Chapelle which is hailed as one of the greatest architectural masterpieces of the Western world because of the 15 stained-glass windows which portray more then 1,000 biblical scenes in a kaleidoscope of red, gold, green and blue. The windows trace the scriptures from Genesis through the Crucifixion of Christ to the Apocalypse.
We took a short break and shared a salad and a crepe at a sidewalk cafe.
We next visited the Musee du Louvre which contains one of the most important art collections in the world. Owning to the vast size of the collection it is impossible to view much of the art work in a short period of time so we like so many visitors admired the Mona Lisa and the statue of Venus de Milo.
We departed the museum, walking through the currently constructed shopping center which is adjacent to the Loure on its lowest level.
Other sight we saw before boarding the hop on hop off bus were the gardens next to the Loure and a private boat on the River Seine which had a car on it.We assume for touring once the boat arrives at a place of interest. We have no idea how they get the car off the boat.
During the bus ride we saw the Arc de Triomphe and the Effel Tower. We got off the bus at the Hotel des Invalides which was built by King Louis XIV for his wounded and homeless veterans. We back to our Hotel and after a brief stop return to Rue Cler to observed the wonderful street scene on his famous market street.
Sharon and I are sharing a park bench as I type this Blog.
This may be the last blog for a few days as we are leaving Paris tomorrow to drive to the Loire Valley where there may not be internet service available.
WE ARE CLOSE TO OUR HOTEL September 21, 2007
Posted by Spencer Ruff in : Trip to Europe , 1 comment so farWe are in Paris. Spence, the author of the blogs, is sitting on a bench next to our Hotel-Hotel Prince -typing this blog. It seems unreal to really be in Paris.
We left London’s Waterloo Station via Eurorail and arrived in Paris at the Nord de Gard train station at 12:30 PM.We ate a sandwich for lunch. Spence went looking for toilets and after getting change from a machane-yes, it takes 60 cents to urinate and a euro for number 2-heard a man say to him ” you really have to pay to take a #$%^”. Spence responded Yes and give him a euro to help him with his need. Spence was then approached by a women who needed help identifying what a euro coin looked like. Spence had been in Paris 20 minutes and he was already an expert.
Each couple took a taxi to the hotel with all 4 couples arriving at the same time. During the taxi ride we had a great tour of downtown Paris. We checked into the hotel and then walked to the Eiffel Tower where we boarded a hop on- hop bus for the green tour which takes in all of the major sites including the Louve, cathedral Notre Dame, Seine River, Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe.
We got off the bus at the Eiffel Tower, walked back to the hotel and ate supper at Le7 eme Vin which is next to the hotel. We had 2 bottles of wine with the meal and were feeling petty GOOD which prompted Janice to comment “don’t worry we are close to our hotel.
Howard, Mary Jo, Spence and Sharon walked to the market street Rue Cue to look for likely places to have breakfast. On the way back they stopped at a pastry shop and purchased a snack-the French know how to create pastry that is almost too beautify to eat. The remainder of the group retired to their hotel rooms.
As Spence was finishing writing this blog he was asked directions to the nearest Metro-subway.He knew the location of only one Metro stop in all of Paris which is 100′ from where he was sitting as he typed this blog.So he ended the day y directing the young man to the metro.