Often when somebody unexpectedly insists of paying for dinner I comment “damn! Had I known I would have ordered the lobster”. That line wouldn’t have worked tonight as I did order the lobster and Simon Gillis insisted, after a knockdown argument I might add, on paying for the meal. The lobster was great and perfectly cooked – must have been as I cracked every morsel to get as much as I could.
I went to the casino with Zia and Paul deciding to play Poker as there were some bridge players in the game. I knew I would lose as I always do on my annual decision to play poker. I simply don’t have the patience. Mercifully I won back what I lost at Poker so finished a handsome winner from the Biarritz Casino which is a pretty shitty excuse for a Casino. Chris Brogeland went there at lunch time to enter the evening poker tournament and was told “oh no problem just be here at 20:00 and enter”. He turned up at 20:00 to be told no he was too late and would not be allowed to play. This was of course accompanied by the normal French passive resistance.
Wednesday morning and we, the Brogeland, Paul and I head towards Relais de la Poste in Magescq, a two star Michelin Restaurant. I don’t recall having previously gone to two star Michelin because it is a little like Hi-Fi systems – I can tell the difference between a $400 and $2000 system but anything beyond that and I can’t tell the difference. The meal, lobster bisque cappuccino style, foie gras, duck and dessert was outstanding but not amazingly memorable. Interestingly the restaurant is in a small village four star hotel and is exceptionally well appointed and incredibly overstaffed. For the second day, this time Boye insisted on paying but as his brother Chris has been my guest in our house I didn’t argue too much but the next one is mine. This is because our last meal in Nobu Las Vegas ended up being $180 per head and it was his turn to pay so I better make a mental note of this.
We get in the car which shows 60kms of fuel left and 55kms to travel. My car deal is that I need to return it empty so we make it back to the bridge for our only moderate session finishing the event at +15 (winners around +165) with zero being average.
We head back home for a home cooked meal of steak, salad and leftover items which need to be consumed before our departure the next day.
Next morning we clean everything up and the ‘landlord’ comes over for the check-out spending 15 minutes to make everything works and tat we haven’t ruined anything before returning my €1000 deposit.
With Paul’s not needing to be at the airport for two hours and me for three we drive down to St Jean de Luz which is a lovely looking seaside town 17kms south of Biarritz. We wander around before I drop Paul off at the airport and go down to Biarritz for a coffee before going back to the airport, returning the car and catching my flight to Nice.
Our landlord phones me while I am having my coffee to report that the dishwasher door is broken and it has been forced and must have been us and we will have to pay for it. After some to and fro discussion I asked her if she was a technician that she has been able to assess that it was our fault. Anyway she is expecting us to pay and I leave ti to you to decide what my expectation is.
I was semi-expecting a problem at the airport when my ticket was booked in my middle name last name so Alan Stern. The reason for this is that I use an auto-fill program and it must have misunderstood one of the fields. I had visions of turning up and being told that the ticket wasnt booked in my name but....nothing - immediate issue of boarding pass.
Arrive in Nice and go to the Novotel Airport Hotel but surprise surprise the Novotel hotel at the airport is NOT the Novotel airport hotel, that is the one 2kms away. I am not a happy camper so they call for a taxi and I get to the correct hotel to find that the taxi fare is $A23 because when you call for a taxi in Nice they turn on the meter from when they take the call. Now I am really angry and ready to leave France.
Anyway I check into my hotel and decide to deny the taxis of Nice any fares so go to the nearby railway station to take a train the 8kms into the centre of Nice as I have booked at a Japanese restaurant for dinner. The train is ‘retarde’ so I wait the 40 minutes till it arrives for the 10 minute ride and 10 minute walk to the restaurant. Excellent meal but when they call for the taxi, n taxis available. I find out why – there is a fireworks display for Bastille Day and the streets are closed. I watch the fireworks and walk about 2kms along the Promenade des Anglaise to a hotel where the streets aren’t barricaded and ask them to call for a taxi. They say that it would be almost impossibly but one of the workers offers to drive me there for €30 ($A40) which is about one third of what it would normally costs I am told.
Anyway good night’s sleep, a full repack and writing this blog. Off to the airport in an hour for a flight to Dubai, 10 hours in airport hotel and then A380 to Australia, home, kids, family, home and dogs.
Well it has been a great holiday of seven and a half weeks without any regrets on the itinerary and no incidents of note. The only minor disappointment was the bridge results but that contrasted with the wonderful location and tournaments I have played in and I am hoping to play in Biarritz and perhaps Deauville which follows immediately thereafter at some time in the future.
Thanks all for paying attention to my travels
Catch up with all of you soon
Love to all David
No comments:
Post a Comment