Paris to Bordeaux

Our riverboat returned to Paris. We enjoyed a bus tour of the city. It was wonderful to see so many iconic "Paris" locations, but we didn't get off the bus too many times and most of my pictures had glare from the windows. I could have gone on a walking tour, but I wanted to see more of the sights this time. The next time I'm in Paris I'll get up close and personal with more of the historical buildings! But, I ventured out on my own to find a Pharmacie as Mr. Dreamy acquired a cold and needed some medication. I enjoyed walking into a shopping district and getting what he needed at the pharmacie and at the market, fantasizing about living in a nearby apartment and doing my marketing there.

That evening we went up on deck to catch the Eiffel tower doing it's hourly light show. It was a nice farewell to this lovely city. The next morning, we were on our way to Bordeaux. 

We boarded a bus that took us to the rail station, and we found our car on the TGV - Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train". The trains can reach 200 mph. Our trip took about 3 hours and we traveled 580 Km, or 360 miles. This means our average speed was 120 mph, impressive when you also include 3 stops. The track on the southern part of our trip is not up to TGV standards, so that part of the trip was a bit slower. They are working on upgrading the tracks and this summer the new line will be open and it will take 2 hours, 5 minutes for the trip - the average speed will be in excess of 180 mph. The train was amazingly smooth and quiet, except when trains going opposite directions passed. Then, there was an amazing "POP" of sound as the air was buffeted by such large, fast objects passing so closely together. 

A bus transported us to our next ship, the River Royale. We Dreamers were on this ship previously... in 2010. Here is a shot of my dad and brother, staring in awe at the walls of the deepest lock on the Rhône River.

Since that trip the ship has been refurbished. Tt was moved from the Rhone to the rivers in the Bordeaux region. I was intrigued about just how they would move a ship of that size from one area in France to another. I asked A.J., the Cruise Director, and he found a picture of the River Royale in transit onboard a huge ocean going ship. The ship has doors, similar to a lock, that allows another ship to be sailed inside. Then the doors are shut and water is pumped out. Amazing!

The River Royal on her way to Bordeaux

We arrived at the ship just in time to catch the tail end of a market on the quay. Bordeaux has a long expanse of river front that has been renovated as a lovely open area park. The buildings on the other side of the street used to have storage on the main floor for wine merchants, and residencies above. The merchants would roll their barrels down the slope to the river to get them aboard freighters. 

Bruce (a new friend from Rochester) and Mr. Dreamy slurp down oysters at the market.
Mr. Dreamy is looking verrry Frrrrench in his new hat. Oh la-la!

Our view of the Garonne River waterfront in Bordeaux.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

There are a few posts from our west coast trip that I just never managed to finish and get up on the blog, so I am going back in time a bit.

On our trip we visited some train and plane museums. What is it about old trains, planes and cars that attract old guys like my Mr. Dreamy? (Old farts enjoying relics, like themselves? Ahem, sorry Mr. Dreamy, I guess I am as much a relic and you are!) It must have something to do with that "Y" chromosome and the fact that one of the first sounds little boys make are engine noises as they scoot their toys across the floor.

Included among the 'transportation' museums we visited on this trip:

Air Museum,Tillamook, OR, 

Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, McMinnville, OR, 

California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, CA

Railtown State Historic Park, Jamestown, CA

Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, Fishcamp, CA

This post will be about trains - it was getting a bit too long to include planes. 

That will have to be another post!

Old trains are one of Mr. Dreamy's favorite things. Perhaps it is because his dad and grand dad worked on the railroad... it is in his blood.

Here is Mr. Dreamy as a boy, in the cab of a train locomotive! He often says that riding on the trains was his daycare. In those days, long, long ago, his dad would often take him to work during the summer or on holidays when his mom was working. So I guess it is little wonder that Mr. Dreamy enjoyed visits to different railroads and railroad museums on our trip.

We had a tour and train ride in Jamestown, CA at the rail museum.  Sadly, they only run the steam engine on Saturdays and we were there on Sunday. However, the tour took us through the round house and our guide shared the history of several of the engines the museum owns. Old number 3 is a movie and TV star, having played a starring role in Petticoat Junction, the Wild, Wild West and Back to the Future III, to name a few.

Yeah, I know it says "34" on the nose of the engine, but it really is #3. It is one of those movie things, just like actors have a character name in movies and TV.

Here is a bit of video I found online, showing what we missed.

I have to admit, even I would have enjoyed the ride a bit more with all of that clanging and hissing! However, I did find it very interesting that a 'fire car' had to follow our train up and down the track. Although it isn't likely, the State requires the fire car to make sure that any possible fire ignited by sparks is taken care of quickly.

The other thing I found interesting in Jamestown was seeing a steam locomotive without the outer covering. This engine is being painstakingly restored to make it an operable locomotive. Each of the holes on the side have pipes (or will have) in them. The pipes carry excess heat out of the compartment so the tank, which holds hot water, doesn't crack. Longer pipes run front to back inside the water tank. They carry hot air from the fire box (located behind the tank) through the front tank to heat the water and make the steam that drives the pistons. 

I guess since I was not endowed with that "Y" chromosome, I never thought about how the steam locomotive actually heated the water. 

The Railtown visit in the roundhouse was interesting as it is, and has been, an authentic, working roundhouse. It has several working locomotives and more being restored. There are huge tools, nuts and bolts, and lots of dirt and grease all over the place. The antithesis of this is the California State Railroad Museum. (I love that word!) This museum also has "rolling stock" but all of the locomotives and cars exhibited in the museum have been painstakingly restored. 

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Visitors can walk among the cars inside the huge building. There are a few cars that visitors can walk through. I enjoyed seeing the mail car, where US Postal employees would sort mail as the train chugged across country. Another favorite of mine was the Pullman sleeper car, circa 1930's. The museum has rigged the car to sway and lurch as if the train were moving down the tracks, and a docent, dressed as a porter, is there to answer questions and point out features of the car. Next to the sleeper car is a dining car. I was fascinated by the place settings on each table, showing china from different railroad lines. But then again, that would appeal to me since I am somewhat of a 'chinaholic'!

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The exhibit also included a number of menus from different railroad lines. It struck me how basic the meal offerings were, compared to the elaborate descriptions of dishes on today's menus.

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Skip forward a few days….

We Dreamers were on our way into Yosemite when Mr. Dreaming noticed a sign, and took an immediate detour, to the Sugar Pine Railroad. Once again, we missed the opportunity for a steam locomotive trip (wrong day of the week), but we did get to experience something totally different. We took a "Jenny Car" ride. Jenny cars, powered by Model "A" engines, were used for maintenance of rail lines. The Sugar Pine rail company has refitted the cars to take a few passengers on a loop following an old logging line. Along the way, our 'driver' enlightened us regarding the history of logging in the area.

 

Although I thoroughly enjoyed our tours of railroad museums, and our rides on old trains, I was more than ready to move on….