La Rochelle 2

Continued from "La Rochelle holiday 1".

You know the saying, "if anything can go wrong, it will."

Well I knew that the electric plug sockets were different on the continent and had purchased adapters from Argos. However, when we got there found out that it simply didn't fit. On closer inspection, found out that the adaptors was for the US. I knew it was my fault for not checking them out but I am really mad at those guys in Argos who gave me the wrong plug adapters.

Searched around the city tryign to find an adaptor but none of the shops we went to had it. So my digital camera battery ran out after 3 days and we couldn't use our lap top at all. Fortunately we had our 3 Skypephones and used them to take pics for the next 3 days. We also bout two disposable cameras which I have yet to develop and print.

Anyway, here are some more pics:


The shortest and fastest way to get to the centre of the city, the "Vieux Port" (Old Harbour) from Les Minimes, (where we were staying) was via the Bus de mer (sea bus).


The Bus de mer





One way ticket cost us 1.75 € each (children below 5 travel free). Later on we bought the Pass Rochelais (La Rochelle city pass) from the tourist office located at Quai du Gabut. It's valid for 3 days which allows for unlimited travel on the Bus de mer, the electric boat, the local bus and the yellow bicycles. It cost us 7€ per person and we also bought discounted entry tickets for the Aquarium and some museums.


View from the Bus de mer. You can see the the Lantern Tower (La Lanterne) here.


The two towers at the "Vieux Port" ("Old Harbour"), La Rochelle. View from the Bus de mer.



The sea front promenade was a hive of activity every time we went. With stalls selling everything from food to art work and street performers and artists. There are a number of cafes and restaurants as well. The place actually comes alive at night.


Food stalls


This guy's really talented


I think they are musicians from South America. Picture was taken using my 3 Skypephone and is not so clear


Another view of the two towers






Really pedestrian friendly


Some street performers


My daughter having her hair wrap done.


Boats for sale

La Rochelle holiday 1

After a wonderful week in sunny France we are now back in cold and wet Coventry. We flew from Stansted airport on the evening of the 9th. This time we didn't want to take any chances and took the National Express bus from Pool Meadow Bus Station, Coventry. We set off quite early from Coventry (1:15pm) even though our flight was only at 7:25pm.

We decided to go on our holiday because we needed to get away from it all - and to recharge our batteries.


Flying with Ryanair

After a slightly rough flight we arrived at La Rochelle. Our friend Agnes, had kindly hired a taxi to pick us up. There was a communication breakdown but we somehow managed to reach the apartment safely.

The apartment is near the Les Minimes port and we spent the next day exploring the area. As it was a Sunday, most of the shops were closed. Les Minimes is the largest marina for pleasure boats in France. I have never seen so many boats together at one place.


Les Minimes port

Fortunately there were some restaurants open. Found a place with a menu in English. My wife was delighted with the choice of sea food. Unfortunately for me, there wasn't much vegetarian choices and had to make do with bread butter and fries.


Prawns


Moules (Mussels)

Later that evening discovered that the sea coast was just a little walk away from the apartment. They have excellent paths by the sea for walking or cycling.


With the kids near the "La Porte Océane".








On the Altlantic coast.

Had a great time just walking along the path and playing with the kids.



Thus ended our First day in La Rochelle.

Garden needs weeding

The rains have started and the weeds are coming back with a vengeance. Guess I have to get my hands really dirty when I get back:




Some of the weeds have beautiful flowers. I am not sure why but all of them in my garden seem to have pink flowers.

This is my Green Thumb Sunday post for this week.


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My new ride

Found out that fixing my old car won't be worth it. I had never imagined that replacing a blown head gasket would cost me around £500/. I plan to put it up on eBay under "spares or repair". I would be lucky to get a few hundred pounds. However, I plan to remove the new tyres I fitted quite recently and replace them with older ones, remove the car stereo (I already have a buyer) and drain the fuel (I had a full tank when I set out on my journey on the unfortunate day my car broke down.

Anyway, after a few frustrating days of searching for a used car I liked, (read "Buying a used car - my experience 1" and "Buying a used car - my experience with Station Garage") I finally bought a Volvo S40. It won't win any award for good looks nor is it the best in terms of performance but it is still in great condition for it's age and was within our budget. Here's hoping (and praying) that it would not give us any problems.





It is slightly bigger than my old car and as our old car was a hatchback, I have to be careful with side parking and get used to the fact that this car has a boot. The light also comes on automatically when I start the car (even during the day). Initially, I thought that it was a defect until I looked it up on the web and found out that it is a safety feature. YOU CAN'T TURN THE DAMN HEADLIGHTS OFF.

Now that I think of it, I used to get annoyed with the guys who have their car headlights on during the daytime. Now I am one of them.

Changing currency

Planning for our trip to France gave me a good lesson in changing currency. I went around a few travel agencies and the post office as well. I ultimately found that the best deal is that offered by Marks and Spencer
They don't charge any commission on foreign currency and only 1% on sterling travellers' cheques. I went to the M & S outlet at Arena park near my house and got €245 for £200.36 (@ rate of 1.2228).

A lot of people tend to change currency in banks but ore often than not, their rates are not the best. Doing some research, I learnt that the worst rates are those offered by those money changers operating from small kiosks.

I too did make some mistakes on the way and bought travellers cheques worth £500 from the post office a few days before that. They charged me £7 pounds as commission.

If you are interested in currency Forex trading, do check out my friend Ahrasis' blog: "Forex Profiteer".

Ryanair to La Rochelle - Part 2

What was really disappointing about yesterday's events was that we missed the plane by just 10 minutes. Ryanair's FAQ says:

Ryanair flights check-In closes strictly at 40 minutes prior to the scheduled flight departure time

Had we left immediately from Kettering using a Taxi and not waited for our landlord to pick us up, we might have been able to make it. It would have cost us much less than the £200 we had to pay for the tickets for the next flight. That is not including the cot of the hotel for the night.

We might have had we known about this. Unfortunately Ryanair doesn't provide a customer contact number and we had no chance of contacting them. Trying to search on the net using my mobile also gave me no clues. Only found out about it after going through their website today.

Thinking about this really makes me angry. There is a saying "Pay peanuts, get monekys". However, I know that is not always true and we can get greats bargains without paying an arm and a leg. Sad to say but Ryanair seems to prove the sayign right. Makes me really appreciate Air Asia's service. Whatever people say, they are way better than Ryanair.

Ryanair to La Rochelle

I have never flown on Ryanair and we were supposed to fly with them to La Rochelle. I say "supposed to" because we never made it there. I am actually typing this from my house in Coventry. I guess I am lucky because I nearly died today. If it sounds dramatic, it isn't.

We started off around 2pm from our house in Coventry on our way to Standsted airport. As we were about to go off from M6 to A14, I suddenly saw this truck on my left slowing inching towards me. I was in the middle lane and I was well within my lane. The truck continued overtaking the truck in front and was going to hit me. I moved to the right. All this happened in a few seconds and I didn't even have time to horn. I think the driver didn't see me but he actually nudged me into the fast lane. At the speed we were going I almost hit the metallic road divider. Fortunately there wasn't any car in the fast lane or there would have been a major accident today involving our family.

I overtook the truck and gave a few angry bursts of my horn but it just drove away as if nothing had happened. Stopping later along the A14 I actually noticed scratches on the front passenger door meaning it had actually scrapped me. That's not the end of the story. A few miles later I started hearing some noises coming from the engine and experienced a loss of power. I also noticed the temperature gauge rising. Before long smoke started pouring from underneath the car bonnet. The engine died and I used the momentum of the car to pull over to the hard shoulder.


The scratch

Called up the RAC and had a hard time describing our location. Fortunately I suddenly realised we had our TomTom and was able to tell them our rough location. They told us that their roadside recovery vehicle would be with us in about an hour. The place we had stopped was not the ideal of place as it was overgrown and sloping down into some wheat fields. So we took some of the stuff and moved to the parking area about 200 yards away.

The RAC guy arrived about half an hour later and found out that the engine had blown a gasket and the coolant was flowing out the exhaust. He ultimately towed us to the Premier Inn Hotel in Kettering. I had tried calling a few guys but the only one I got through was our landlord. We had hoped that we would be able to reach the airport in time as the flight was at 7:30pm while the RAC guys towed our car back home.

To cut a long story short, with the help of our landlord we finally reached the airport around 7pm and as expected, the Ryanair guys had closed the counter. The next flight was tomorrow same time but we would have to pay £50 pounds each for four of us. We were tempted to take the tickets but that would mean staying at a hotel nearby. The cheapest rates for a hotel nearby was £185 for a family room without breakfast. That was it. We finally decided to go back home.

I never got the chance to fly Ryanair and as for La Rochelle, maybe later one day.

It was tiring and sad but I am glad that we came back home alive. I am also really lucky to have such a great landlord. Thanks for everything Sajad.

Online shopping wiki

Wikis rank as one of the most important innovations on the web. These are sites that allow anyone to contribute or modify content. Of course the most famous example is Wikipedia. However, I am sure that not many people have heard about ShopWiki. ShopWiki is a revolutionary online shopping search engine combined with a wiki contributed by consumers.

Normally if I was looking for a product, I would do a search on Google, read reviews on various sites and then compare prices offered on various e-commerce sites.

Traditional comparison sites usually lists sites that have paid to be listed on the site or carry a limited number of brands. Thus, I might have to go to several sites to get the best deal. In comparison ShopWiki does not sell any products themselves and doesn’t charge retailers to include their products in the search results. You can literally find anything and everything for sale on this site and the best deals. Apparently ShopWiki actively crawls more than 180,000 online store.

Guide to Sculptures at the University of Warwick

Among the first things you will notice when you walk around the University of Warwick campus are the sculptures scattered at different locations across the campus. It's quite interesting and we often play games guessing what they are meant to represent.

Here are a few samples:


Let's Not Be Stupid by Richard Deacon

This is the most visible. In front of the Rootes Building and near the bus stands. Looks like giant handcuffs.


Flayed Stone III by Peter Randall

Near car park 7. Bad model of a giant's brain.


Grown in the Field by Avtarjeet Dhanjal

Social Studies Building. Screws coming out of the grass.


White Koan by Liliane Lijn

In front of the Warwick Art's Centre. Yes, It's an inverted white cone.


Behind the Social Studies Building, Warwick Business School

Ahem?

There are a few more but I didn't get the chance to take pictures. Maybe later.

Also visit the University of Warwick's "Sculptures page" for more information on each piece of art.

Lighting can transform your house

A few days back, a family friend dropped by our house and we ultimately got down to talking about the house rentals and how they are going up in Coventry and I guess all over the UK for that matter even though house prices have dropped.

We then got down to talking about the condition of the houses we live in. They have just moved in to a newly refurbished house and how happy they were with the condition of the new house. The only thing they didn't like were the home lighting. Their landlord just left it up to them to fix their own. They were admiring our light fittings which we had bought from Ikea and they were surprised how cheap they were.

Talking about lighting, do check out Farreys.com, an international wholesale hardware company which is based in Florida. I was amazed at the choice of indoor and outdoor light fixtures on their site which are available in a wide range of styles. These products come from some of the top manufacturers specialised in lighting but at really low prices.

Lighting fixtures can completely transform the look and feel of each room in your house. For example, If you have a big rooms, you might consider having chandeliers fitted. Somehow, the right chandeliers of your choice ranging from contemporary to modern can give a distinct look to a room. Unfortunately, the rooms in our house are too small to pull off such a look sucessfully.

Dinner at the Saxon Mill

Our friend Jens is going back to Switzerland and we decided to have some drink with him before he leaves. Luiz suggested The Saxon Mill in Warwick. It is actually an old mill over the river that has been converted into a pub / restaurant.

Some really nice views over the river. We took our kids along and they enjoyed it even though it got a bit bit chilly later in the evening. Later on we went in to order the food. It was really nice and comfy inside and the food was not bad either. However, my son was not happy at all and I had to take him out. He was fascinated by the water rushing away.

Here are some pics:

France trip update

In my last post "Preparing for trip to France" I had written that we were planning to drive my old Ford car to La Rochelle in France. However, the fact that I am not fully confident with my car, made us change our plans. We will now be flying to La Rochelle directly.

I would have gone ahead had it been only the two of us but we will have two small kids in tow and I simply don't want to risk it. Just imagine being stranded on a highway in France with two kids in the back seat.

Of course it's much more convenient now. We reach our destination in a few hours. However, that also means that we won't be able to take as much stuff along with us. We will be there in France for nearly two weeks and we hope to see some of the surrounding sights and we definitely would have to rent a car. It would be interesting because it would be the first time in my life to drive a left hand drive vehicle. In fact it would be my first time to drive on the wrong side of the road (the right side, according to some of you).

In the meantime I am practising some of the common French phrases. I had never known that French was so tough. The problem is that the words are pronounced totally different from how they are written. It's good that I have some French speaking friends to correct me. Hopefully the few phrases would be good enough to get by.

White Lilies

These are white lilies in my garden - my wife's favourite flowers. I bought them at a car boot sale and they only started flowering yesterday.





This is my Green Thumb Sunday post for this week.


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Datuk Nicol David

A few years back I wrote a blog post "Datuk Nicol", calling for reigning world woman's squash champion Nicol David to be awarded a Datukship. However, I never thought that it would become a reality considering her age, etc. etc.

Well today, I learnt that she was awarded the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN) award which carries the title Datuk, by the Penang state government. Only 25 years old, she is the state's youngest Datuk.


Photo from "Nicol David Online".

Congratulations Nicol. You deserve it.

Trip to London

Some pics of our recent trip to London:


Harrods at Knightsbridge

There was a Harrods sale going on and the crowd was unbelievable - mostly ladies and a lot of tourists. There were some people outside protesting against fur being sold in the store. Forgot to take pics.



Walking towards Knightsbridge


Natural history museum

Saw some dinosaur skeletons. Didn't have enough time to go round.



Leicester square. My son fell asleep. The Odeon theatre is in the background.


Statue of Shakespeare at Leicester square.

"There is no darkness but ignorance"
Quote from William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.


Crowds near Piccadilly Circus.