Happy New Year from the Gibbs and Dinning Family

This picture was taken on our buggy ride in the French Quarter in September 2007. We took John and Beverly to New Orleans to visit Shoshanah, and this was Joshua's chance to see his sister before he left for Japan. John at 93 never thought he would ever vist New Orleans.

Queen Mary 2 Pictures Up on Flickr

If you haven't done so already, you can find all of our QM2 pictures up on Flickr. Karen and I each have our own set on our respective Flickr websites. I have over 500 QM2 pictures and Karen has around 70 QM2 pictures. A great way to view the pictures is to go to the set and click on the slide show. Put the slider at the fastest setting. Otherwise, just click on the pictures you wish to see in a larger size other than the thumbnail. Another feature of flickr, is to click on all sizes and then one can see the picture in a large format. If one is a member of flickr, you can download the picture from that point.

There is now a Flickr email distribution tool for a set, so that one can send out a link to view the collection. What's great about Flickr is that you do not need to be registered to view such pictures. I also hope to separately tag all of the pictures that have a QM2 crew member. Thus, a viewer could pull up only those pictures with a crew.

As we were leaving the QM2 berth in Southampton, I had the taxi driver stop, so that I could get pictures of the QM2 from a distance. Those 2 pictures taken on Karen's camera are the only pictures from a distance. I have a couple from the Brooklyn dock, but they are up close.

We have definitely gone through vacation withdrawal.

Fields of Lavendar

The hills are purple, everywhere you look. Some of the lavendar is being harvested, and the air is perfumed.
We've changed the way we're eating. In Paris we ate in for breakfast and dinner, and out for lunch. Here, we are eating in for breakfast and dinner, and out for lunch.
And I think that's it for now, my brain and fingers are exhausted trying to type on this French keyboard!

A Day at Versailles

After 2 days wandering around the neighborhood, yesterday we took the metro, a bus and a train out to Versailles. The weather was postcard pretty, with huge fluffy white clouds and deep blue skies.


There were a lot of individual tourists but the hordes of tours were unbelievable! They would all try to squeeze into a small space at once to hear their tour guide. So the trick is to stay in front or behind them. But they didn't seem to find what I wanted to see very interesting.


The Hall of Mirrors opened last month after more than 3 years of renovations, and it is absolutely spectacular. The mirrors, paintings, floors, everyting was cleaned and repaired.


Then we walked most of the length of the gardens, to arrive at the Grand Trianon, thus completing the "formal" part of the tour. We then saws Marie Antoinette's favorite places: the Petit Trianon, the Temple of Love, and her Hameau and farm.


We went from incredibly opulent and ornate, to a "simple" farm. It's a romantic and idealized version of a farm.

Curtis Blogs from Paris on ExperienceLA

Check out my blog posting at ExperienceLA. The picture is me at the end of the new T3 Tram line in Paris.

Lunch in Montmartre

After wandering around the Sunday market area of Montmartre to buy food for dinner, we stopped at one of the nearby cafes for lunch. The place we choose was an artisal boulangerie. Karen and I each had a fougasse - karen had lardon, and I had olive. Both had a light salad.

We spent the lunch talking to ajoining table, then we moved to the shade to a single table. Both had been studying in London. Ze is from Beijing and Mikiko who is from Nagoya, Japan. The picture is of the four of us.

Bastille Day!

So, it's 11:30 at night. The Eiffel Tower fire works are over, but all the Paris suburb 's are going and of course all the "personal" ones are still going off. The Sacre Coeur is all lit up, the Eiffel Tower is twinkling, it's obviously Paris, but in a way I never could have imagined it.

Before the fireworks there was a concert at the foot of the Sacre Coeur. So we ate our dinner on the terrace, listening to Bizet and Tchaikovsky.

Arrived in Paris

It's been 22 years since Karen and I were in Paris. Took the Eurostar from London today, and checked into our Apartment in Montmartre. The picture is taken from our terrace on the top floor of the building. I guess we have a penthouse unit. Today is Bastille Day, and we might be able to see the fireworks from our rented apartment if they go off above the Eiffel Tower. We can see the very tip from the terrace.

If I'm on land, why am I still rocking?

So, I'm not rocking anymore, but it was funny to feel like we were still on the ship when you could hardly tell you were on a ship to begin with! We had a great time on the QM2. Malcolm, David, Sandy & Betty, our tablemates for dinner were so interesting and nice. It was sad to say good bye the last morning, when we all met for a farewell breakfast. We also saw Liz and Dennis one last time. We took the bus from NY to the ship with them and saw them at least once a day while we were on board. It was hysterical to keep running into the same people when there were over 2000 passengers on board.

I'm sitting here in the lobby of the Hoxton typing this while Curtis returns a battery we bought for my camera which doesn't work. I'd upload some pictures while doing this but he has my camera. Looks like I'll have to wait for Paris.

We've had a good time in London except for the cold I have. I woke up our last morning on the QM2 with a sore throat and am finally starting to feel good.

We had a great lunch our first day: little prawns with the head on and (what the hotel says is) the best fish and chips in London with mushy peas. We would tend to agree. And I had no idea that something called mushy peas could be so delicious!

Yesterday we went to the British Museum and looked at all the Egyptian, Assyrian and Greek sculptures. Then had an amazing dinner at the River Cafe on the banks of the Thames. The setting is absolutely beautiful. It was so warm we ate outside, right next to all the planter boxes holding the herbs and some of the vegetables they cook with. Really light amazing food. I had an herb and baby lettuce salad with baby fava beans and a lobster cooked on the wood buring oven. Curtis had Frito Misto made with zucchini and zucchini blossoms and a whole Dover sole, also roasted in the wood burning oven.

Curtis just got back, so we'll be leaving for Waterloo Station shortly and the Eurostar to Paris.

Staying in Hoxton

We are staying at the Hoxton Hotel which is a very trendy arts area that is going thru redevelopment in Shoreditch (an area of East London). In some ways it reminds me of what is happening on Spring and Main Streets in downtown LA. Complete with lofts and adaptive reuse. The Hoxton Hotel is a bargain at 59 pounds per night. The dining area and lounge is also designed to attract people. Last night we walked from Huxton area further into Shoreditch into what is probably called Little Bangladesh.