28/9: Another Monday-Another country : Limoges, France

So there I was again, Vienna Airport waiting for a plane with an Austrian ticket, and Austrian Flight number but operated by Air France. I can't say I understand these things yet. Anyway the flight was OK and we departed on time and landed more or less on time and then I managed to get a train ticket from a French machine with a UK credit card and took myself to the Gare d'Austerlitz for the first time in my life.

The ticket selling lady was great and sold me a ticket for a train to Limoges (my destination) very efficiently and then said the train leaves in 20 minutes! SO off I went to find my reserved seat and away on time for the 3 hours to Limoges. The journey was fine, comfortable seat, all on time and arriving at Limoges still in daylight to find the station is a fabulous art-deco place with a magnificent location having all the trains running underneath!

The hotel was one of the white buildings on the left of the picture- hence all the railway noise!

The view below is the station from ground level withe detail of the cornices and the windows clearly seen.

The last picture is the inside of the station hall with the interior of the dome, quite beautiful.
As was seen in the pictures my hotel was only about 200 m stroll (reserved by the people I am working with) but whilst the people are friendly and it has WiFi. My room overlooked the railway line so after one night I was familiar with all the times of overnight trains! Anyway I met up with several other members of the committee almost as soon as I had arrived and put my brain into French speaking mode and off we went to a good dinner at a most modern looking restaurant on the other side of the tracks. Good food, good company and good wine, and all for 50 euros each - but we are in France!

The meeting today (Tuesday) was long and hard work but seemed to go well so we are off for another gourmet experience tonight. The meeting was in a room at the top of a Government building and so we had great views of the city almost all the way round - and a great view of the station again.

A summer weekend in UK

Friday 18th September and I have taken a half day off to extend the weekend. The office was due to be closed on Monday 21st to mark the end of Ramadan and I was eager to take advantage of the extended break.

So Friday lunchtime it was off on the train to Vienna airport (again) and an early check in for my Easyjet flight to Luton. I was early because of the train timing but gained with the chance to get an "A" boarding place. The flight was delayed although Easyjet did not bother to tell anyone until we had all worked it out with the obvious absence of a plane at the gate! Still when we finally had a plane and I boarded in the third group I was surprised to find an empty window seat in an exit row; plenty of room, arguably more than on Business class in european BA, Austrian, Lufthansa and Turkish flights.

Anyway the flight was fine and I resisted the deals to buy food, drink, train and theatre tickets etc, etc. At Luton I was met by my good friend Lawrence and his friend Christine who took me back to his place at Caxton, my lodging for the night. After a drink we went off to great Indian restaurant in another village nearby for a really lovely meal, then back to the house for a nightcap and plenty of chat exchanging news.

Next morning it was off to Cambridge for a lunch at Christ's College to celebrate the 75th birthdays of the elder sister of my friend Tim and her husband. It was a glorious day and the pre-lunch drinks were in the fellows' garden - a truly delightful spot.

A good chance to catch up with many people from the old school days in London when we were very young, and Tim and Wendy's children and his other sister and brother; a really nice time. Then we moved inside for a very good lunch in the main hall with some well timed and well thought out speeches and it was time to move on.

Tim and Wendy drove me back to London to catch up with my sister Susan and her husband Mike (another old school chum) who had kindly agreed to put me up in their flat. We then went out to dinner which was a surprise for Soo - she expected we were going to one place but Mike had secretly arranged for us to go to the hotel where they were married 6 years before less one day; and the witnesses were also there! The only person missing was my friend Clare who had officiated at the wedding (she was down with flu and could not travel) and I was the interloper as I had not been at the wedding itself. It was great evening and a good time was had by all.

Next day (the actual wedding anniversary) we were on the road again to Amberley, Sussex with So and Mike to visit my sister Alison and her husband (another Tim) and have lunch with them and my father, Dadwag. Dadwag was in good form with us to talk to and cricket and football to watch on the TV. A very nice lunch and super weather so we could sit out on the deck in the sun. After a quick cup of tea we headed back to London for a quiet evening in the flat.

Monday was an easy start to the day with a bit of shopping before a quick lunch with Soo and Mike then away to Heathrow on the tube and the mid afternoon Austrian flight back to Vienna. I was home just too late for the supermarket so supper was scratched from the fridge. All in all a good weekend and a pleasant break before the next round of travelling starts........................

Tuesday morning back in the office there was this unusual cloud over the Danube, you can see the tower block sticking up through the mist.

22 August - The desert trip

So we set out for the desert after letting air out of the tyres down to about 1 bar to improve traction on the soft sand. We saw flamingos on the way to the desert which was only at the edge of town, about 10 minutes drive, but it was still misty………………

Flamingos in the mist

At the desert’s edge we stopped at the salt farm and at that moment the sun came out and we saw the desert in glorious light.

Colleague Shaz on the top of the first dune with the salt farm behind her

So off we went………along the beach for the first stretch across a narrow band of sand between the sea and the salt flats behind

The drive was spectacular with dunes up to 60m (200 feet) tall right at the sea’s edge………….

This is the tallest dune we saw and some visitors climbed to the top. The area behind the dune on the coast is Sandwich Bay, which used to be a significant fresh water lagoon - sadly now reclaimed by the sea. A possible effect of climate change it has been suggested.

It was at this point that, just as I was asking the guide about pelicans and their only flying VFR we looked up and.............................

.....there were 5 pelicans flying south-supremely elegant and definitely in VFR conditions!

Then a bit more fun driving up - and down - sand dunes. The wind blows daily and smooths out all the wheel tracks overnight so the impact is minimised. This really was a steep as it looks and was pretty exciting. But the sun had come out and we had a ball. It is not our Land Rover of course on the slope as we were already down at the bottom………..

Looking straight down the dune slope from the top.......

Going down…………

There was lots of sand (and not too much else) but we did see a solitary (and thirsty?) jackal……..

....................and some very spiky desert vegetation, in flower…….

……then it was time to admire the light change as the sun started to set over the dunes

and then back across the salt flats past these old holes.

Rumoured to be the locations of wartime tent sites created by German soldiers to keep the wind from blowing them away!
– and we had to race back along the beach before the tide cut us off!

B ut there was still time to watch a final sunset over the salt pans…….

…say farewell to the flamingos………..which is pretty well how the afternoon had begun............

…and a real thank you to our hosts http://www.photoventures-namibia.com/

who had organised a great trip… and head back to Swakopmund for dinner and a beer after “A Grand Day Out” (with apologies to Wallace and Grommit). And the next day we caught the plane to Johannesburg and thence home to Vienna for me…….