Tour De Bauer/ France - 24: Cycle Another Day

The following takes place between 10am and 7pm on 7th July.

My original plan was a day trip to London to watch the Tour de France (point 10 in my before I'm 40 list) and while I was waiting for Froome and Co to zoom past -  I had time to cross off one of my TV/Travel bucket list too-  24: Live Another Day. Most of the filming was around Trafalgar Square and the Mall which was the end of stage 3 of the 2014 tour.  I killed two oiseasu with one pierre!

The stage 3 finish line was half way up the Mall and along with the line there was the organizers, sponsors, TV crews, bike teams, a lot of security and every car had a French number plate, this meant road and path closures. Around 11am the crowd was scattered around the Mall, but the foreign tourists were more interested in Buckingham Palace than finding a viewing spot of the route.

Before I found my spot I decided to run around London in Bauer style to find the 24 locations with help from wikia.com.  (http://24.wikia.com/wiki/Live_Another_Day_filming_locations )

First Bauer site was along Pall Mall for two locations:

DAMMIT 1!  I couldn’t get to Carlton Gardens where the outside scenes of the US Embassy were filmed, as the nearby roads were closed off for Le Tour. I couldn’t get to the front of the Athenaeum Club on Waterloo Place either.  Outside the Athenaeum Club was where Kate met with Jack to start their bid to save London and where Jack and President Heller escaped the Secret Service for their trip to Wembley Stadium. It was also where Belcheck dropped the President off after their trip.

Athenaeum Club

 

I headed up to Trafalgar Square and took a detour to the Two Chairman Pub on Warwick House Street, just off Cockspur Street. Here is where Chloe O'Brian blows off Jack and goes off with Adrian.

Two Chairman Pub

Trafalgar Square was full of cycling fans (Nelson would be turning in his grave the amount of French around his Column), and this was where Simone Al-Harazi was hit by a bus.

Trafalgar Square

just pretend the lorry is the bus

Across the Square and along Duncannon Street to Charing Cross station and the station exit by Pizza Express where Jack ran out when chasing Simone Al-Harazi.

he ran past the pizza express

The next 5 hours I sat near Buckingham Palace waiting for cyclists to zoom past in the rain. With the French commentary coming out of the speakers along the route and the carnival of mainly French companies passing by a few hours before the riders, I did have to look at Buckingham Palace behind me a few times to remind me that I was actually in England not France.

bikes to quick for a photo

 

After the race I continued to follow in Jack’s footsteps, passed Big Ben and spent 120€ on a Team Sky Rain jacket (and when I get home I have a letter from Sky TV putting up my monthly TV subscription – Merci Sky!) then on to Waterloo Station – where the missile was going to hit and across the Golden Jubilee Bridge where the missile went into the Thames.

 Waterloo Station

where the 'missile' hit

 

I hope Le Tour comes back to England soon or maybe I will get to watch it actually in France. There was an amazing atmosphere similar to London 2012, so it wasn't a bad day like Jack always experiences but I do have a few more dammits:

DAMMIT 2!  I was nowhere near the Gillette Building in West London, where most of the inside scenes were shot.

DAMMIT 3! No time to get to Liverpool street station where Steve Navarro was caught by Jack.

DAMMIT 4!  No time but already been to Wembley Stadium back in 2012 and last year to Camden Lock – Jordon Reed RIP & past the East London mosque, Whitechapel which is in the opening scenes of episode 1 we stayed in the Ibis budget hotel next door (England through the eyes of a Frenchman – London part 1).  

I should get on with completing my 40 things to do before I'm 40 list but I'm sure another weekend of watching another 24 box set won't hurt.

Learning French By Watching Télévision

J’aime la France, J’aime la television et J’aime de television Françoise.  French programmes were supposed to be educational, supposed to help me learn the language but I got too engrossed in the story lines and characters to make notes or repeat what the beautiful people said.

My first impression of Sky Living's The Tunnel was it’s a bit slow at the start and not in a cool French type of way, it needed to pick up speed and it did.  Clémence Poésy was great as the miserable straight talking workaholic Elise Wassermann and the more human British DCI Karl Roebuck’s (played by Stephen J. Dillane) wise cracks tried to lighten her mood. I do need to watch it again to piece together all the twists.

The Tunnel

  
Has my previous post states Channel 4 series – The Returned (les Revants) is currently my favourite new show of 2013. I know the American version of it won’t be half as good as the original. Frenchies + zombies = my television heaven!

Other Frenchie shows I’ve found on my SKY TV channels, on Sky Arts there was Mansion Close I found it very boring but maybe a programme about prostitutes back in 17th century isn’t for everyone’s taste. But a sit-com about the porn industry (only the French could make it) – Hard was hilarious, very crude but who cares I‘m not a nun and dull Sophie needed to cheer up, having to run a seedy porn business after she husband died isn’t paradise but being with the hot Roy the Rod (a sensitive caring porn star) would make even a nun smile.

Hard

Jo on Fox with Jean Reno wasn’t very French.  Reno is the only French guy in it and the rest of the characters are American or in one case a British actress with an American accent.  An interesting cop murder drama but more a Paris tourism advert with dead bodies lying around the French capital's popular tourist areas.

On the subject of French police, welcome back Braquo on Fox for series 3 (especially Theo played by Nicolas Duvauchelle) I do enjoy a bunch of dirty cops fighting crime their own way.

Braquo

 

TV Travel Bucket List – The Returned

It might have been less than a minute but it counts. One place ticked off my list - the Lake Pub featured in Channel 4’s The Returned.

Monsieur X picked me up at Geneva Airport on an April Saturday, and we drove though the town of Annecy on the way to Courchevel.  He wanted to show me the lake however I wanted to go zombie hunting and begged him to stop off at the Lake Pub in Sévrier for a quick photo, after his complaining he gave in. Luckily for him it was closed (opens at 5pm), so he only had to drive around the car park while I took a photo of the pub.  It made my day!

 

 

So this holiday weekend I watched the The Returned (les Revants) again.  It’s my favourite new show of 2013 and it freaked me out! No blood, gorge and graphic violence like the Walking Dead just a guessing game of what the hell is going on. 

Series one is about a bunch of ‘dead’ people who suddenly return to their village, acting like nothing ever happened to them, while the ‘alive’ people are being all French and acting cool about this crazy situation.  Only the French would have gorgeous zombies. There is Simon the brooding undead who even looks good lying in the morgue and Serge the cannibal zombie who still manages to get his leg over with a human.  Then on the cuteness scale of 9 out of 10 there is little Victor, this boy loses a point due to his sinister ways.

Not that I’m jealous of their beauty and Frenchness (I so am!) but the women in this show are annoyingly beautiful and the younger cast are just annoying. Oui! I mean you Camille! The film this series was based on (called They Came Back/Les Revenants) was just as weird and being a scared pathetic loser as I had to watch it in the day with the lights on, no pretty zombies this time but it did screw up my head again.

So I’ve seen the front of the pub and the lake, maybe next year when I visit Monsieur X, we can visit another Returned scene hopefully the Tignes Dam (Barrage de Tignes) which is only 67km - 1 hour and 15 minutes away from Le Praz, Courchevel - hint hint Monsieur X hint hint.  

Courchevel Weekend... For a Broke Non Skier

When my photographer friend Monsieur X gives me an invite to France, I never say no even if it is on the wrong side of pay day and it’s to a five star ski resort.  This was my second attempt to visit Courchevel, last year I ended up in Marseille instead (24 hours in Marseille:  An unplanned weekend), but after a £150 return Easyjet  flight from Birmingham to Geneva  and a drive though Annecy I reached Monsieur X ‘office’.

I was staying at Monsieur X very little penthouse apartment aka his studio in La Praz and less said about his place the better, but the words ‘clean up’ needs to be said. Its location was perfect a few minutes’ walk after from the bus stop and cable cars.  After dumping my bag at his studio he took me to Courchevel 1850 (via the free bus service) to show me where he works…on the beautiful slopes of 1850 and his base for selling his photos at (Funhouse) La Datcha restaurant in the Forum Centre. The La Datcha staff was very welcoming, there was a good chilled out and quiet atmosphere (due to it being end of the ski season) and the pizza tasted great.

La Praz

Courchevel

Sunday was his day off and after realising my cash isn’t going to last my stay or even another day we went to the top of this mountain.  Seriously 8€ for a coffee and a tea in Le Praz and it wasn’t even a proper cup of tea! Yes you can take the girl out of England but not the England out of the girl.  We took a cable car from 1850 up to the highest level we could go for around 15€, I was unsure due to the cost (and that I hate cable cars) but Monsieur X  said it would be worth it.  He was right the white mountain views of snow and clouds took away any remaining bit of stress I had and drinking white wine lying on a deck chair knowing that I would have a sunburnt nose the next day isn’t what I usually do on a Sunday afternoon.

Before heading back down we took a detour to La Folie Douce in Meribel, the Sun, dance music and people dancing on the tables reminded me of my Ibiza days and so did 7€ a pint! Watching the tres expensive bottles of champagne been send via a mini cable car/box from the DJ stage to the VIP area bizarrely reminded me that I need to buy a new car. Why? One of those bottles of champagne is the same price as my car deposit. I seriously need to find a new job to fund my five star lifestyle. I also learned a valuable lesson – trying to run for the last cable car back to Courchevel in snow after a few beers isn’t cool.

La Folie Douce

I can’t go to a ski resort and not have fondue and after nagging Monsieur X in the cable car and free shuttle bus down the mountains, he gave in at 1650 and we went to the Le Table de Marie not far from the bus stop.  It was empty around 7ish but by 8 it was full. It was 25€ each for fondue for 2 people and the plate of bread, salad and meats was massive and there was enough cheese for us so there were no fighting over the last melted drop.

The next few days of my long weekend consisted on pretty much nothing, just up and down between Le Praz and 1850 and afternoon drinks in La Datcha and dinner in L’Escorchevel pub and restaurant in Le Praz. It was mainly English/American food on the menu and very big portions, I’ve had a lot of chicken nuggets in my time but not as big as these.  With a car it was easy to visit the town Moûtiers and another the resort of Champagny  and I think four nights in Courchevel was enough time for a broke non-skier like myself to relax, socialize and see this rich resort from the top to the bottom.

 

On the way back down

 

 

Merci Monsieur X I hope we can do this again next year.

My TV Travel Bucket List

As you can see from my above statement and ‘About Me’ I want to travel and my life at the moment involves seeing the world from the comfort of my sofa and getting fat at the same time.  So why don’t I mix the both up and visit the beautiful places (without the crime and zombies) I see on a screen every day.

Yes it’s cheaper and easier to lie on my sofa and watch the imagery world go by but where’s the excitement and enjoyment of visiting other countries and meeting new people.  Now I’ve visited a few but that was before I had this idea now I have another reason to go back… yes I mean you Ibiza and Paris.

The Telly Travel List (Blue = visited)

UK

England
Birmingham (got to start somewhere):  Peaky Blinders, Doctors. 
London: 24: Live another Day and every other English drama.

Wales

Rhondda Valley: Stella
Barry Island: Gavin & Stacy

EUROPE

Spain
Ibiza/Majorca:  Mad Dogs.

France

Paris:  Braquo
French Alps: Annecy (Lake Pub) & Tignes Dam: The Returned

Italy

Rome:  Romanzo Criminale
Sicily: Young/Inspector Montalbano

REST OF THE WORLD

Caribbean:  Death in Paradise  
Canada, Toronto:  Rookie Blue 

USA

Chicago:  ER (the George Clooney years), Chicago Fire, Mike & Molly
Washington:  Bones, Scandal
New Orleans:  Treme
Hawaii: Hawaii 5-0, Lost
Texas: Friday Night Lights
Atlanta:  Walking Dead
Virginia: Criminal Minds, NCIS
Philadelphia: Body of Proof
New York: Friends, Blue Bloods, The Following, Elementary and many more
Los Angeles: Mentalist, NCIS: Los Angeles, Two & a Half Men, Major Crimes/Closer to name a few.
Dallas:  Oh Man what’s that programme called again!

Any new TV locations would be greatly appreciated and a message to SKY TV if you want to reduce my mega monthly subscription payments so that I can save for my trips that would be greatly appreciated too. 

Hey if you don’t ask you don’t get!

England through the eyes of a Frenchman - London Part 2 - Central London in a day!!

Our last full day together and I wanted to squeeze in as much as possible I wanted Monsieur X to see as many famous landmarks as possible. The weather was on my side that day as trying to please Monsieur X can be hard and I hadn’t booked our coach to Stansted Airport so all we had to do was get to Victoria Coach Station before the ticket office closed at 10pm.  After breakfast and stocking our rucksacks with fruit we retraced our steps Gherkin, Tower of London and Tower Bridge then passed them for a third time on an open top Big Bus Tours bus (a French couple gave us their £30 tickets as they were leaving that day). 

 

We hopped off at the London Eye and walked around Parliament Square taking many photos of House of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey then headed to Trafalgar Square via Whitehall passing Downing Street. Stopping for lunch at a nearby Pret-A-Manger and I gave Monsieur X a history lesson on Lord Nelson Column ‘it to remember when the English kicked Napoleon’s ass’. It had been years since I had visited the square and it isn’t the same without the pigeons.

Very french

 

Lunchtime over and we were running out of time. We wanted to catch the last Big Bus Tour (5.30pm) to get to Piccadilly Circus but we still hadn't seen Buckingham Palace yet.  Usually this is a simple route – a straight ten minute walk down the Mall but Monsieur X veered off to St James Park.  I think he was more interested in the ducks and pigeons than the park and the Mall.  At the Palace the guards were changing shift, to me and probably fellow other Brits it was just a change of shift to Monsieur X and other foreign tourists it was a video clip and photo opportunity.

We caught the last Big Bus Tour bus at 5.30 at Piccadilly/the Ritz passing Hyde Park, Park Lane, Marble Arch, Madame Tussauds, Regent Street and Oxford Circus (drooling at the window display of my favourite shop – Niketown) before we got off just before Piccadilly Circus and recharged our batteries with a beer at the Glassblower on Glasshouse Street. Monsieur X wanted to visit Covent Garden so we walked though Leicester Square and round in circles for about 10 minutes trying to find Covent Garden in the dark and by now I was tired, him not so much. Finally found it round 7pm and after he watched a mime artist while I watched the time, dinner was at the Globe pub on Bow Street near the Royal Opera House. It was my favourite meal of the weekend (mmm lasagne) because I was so hungry.

So time to go home (well the Airport Hotel), tube from Covent Garden Station to Victoria and then another 5 minute walk (felt like an hour Je suis fatigue) to Victoria Coach station. We took the 9.30 coach to Stansted and this even though google maps says it only one hour away it took around two, one hour to get out of central London and another on the motorway.

Central London:  ‘So much to do here’… ‘oui I confirm top rep and guide! Merci’

My observations of this weekend: Birmingham isn’t too bad, the majority of the bars we went to were Wetherspoons and Blackpool doesn’t have any foreign tourists as we couldn’t find a bureau de change.

Next morning we went our separate ways, Monsieur X to his beautiful Provence and me to grey Birmingham.  I think he enjoyed his visit…but we haven’t spoken much since, I really need to work on my tour guide skills.  Here comes the Sun! And the moment he left Stansted he took the sun with him.

England through the eyes of a Frenchman - London Part 1 (Camden Town & Tower Bridge area)

A Sunday morning and we were woken up by a red Birmingham’s sunrise (broken curtain rail), which eased the hangover pain. I had pre-booked our train tickets weeks before at £8 each one way with London Midland and the train was on time and there were no delays during the journey.  With the French train services being so perfect  I was so happy this particular train lived up to Monsieur X’s French standards.
 

I love London and it’s been a long time since I’ve done the touristy places.  Usually it’s go straight to the concert/ sporting event/ theatre and then come straight back home. This time I could take in the sites. Sunday afternoon we went to Camden Town (I’ve never been there before and Monsieur X visited Camden 20 years ago), it was so busy and hot, we couldn’t move. For him it brought back memories for me it gave me a headache and couldn’t wait to get the tube out of there. I’m sure a colder day there would have been less people and I could have had a good look around the stalls. For lunch it was another Wetherspoon's, the Ice Wharf and Sunday dinner roast and a drink for £10 - Bargain!

Camden Town: C’est Bon - 'ah oui the market is a lot bigger than in 1988.'

After escaping the market and the hassle of Camden tube station and our particular line to the hotel being closed. We checked into our hotel The Ibis Budget Whitechapel hotel, the room was basic; there was no separate bathroom just a door to the toilet.  The shower was next to the basic bed (with a door) and the sink next to the shower.  The photos on the Internet don’t do this hotel any favours, before we arrived I thought we would be sleeping in a box with everything cramped together and we would bump our head of the sink when we got out of bed, but there was enough room for two people and the shower and sink wasn’t too close to the bed. Not bad for £55 a night in central London (plus £5 each for buffet breakfast).

Now Tower Bridge is my favourite building in London, no particular reason I just like the walk over it and around that part of the Thames and the Tower of London. I have good memories during the 2012 Olympics watching the games on a large TV screen outside the City Hall while waiting most of an evening for Tower Bridge’s lights to change colour (they didn’t until we walked away).  I knew our hotel was close to the Bridge but wasn’t sure of the route and didn’t want to look an idiot following my maps app, so I guessed if we headed toward the Gherkin there should be signs for Tower Bridge along the way.

 

 

That plan didn’t matter this French photographer was very impressed with these glass office blocks especially the Gherkin, so when we walked down another side street and could see the Tower of London and Tower Bridge at dusk he sais ‘Bon bon excellente, merci’. I took that as an approval.

A stroll around the Thames ‘block’- past the Tower, across the Bridge, past City Hall, have a few drinks in The Horniman bar and steak and chips for late dinner/supper at Cote then across London Bridge and pass the Monument before finding our way back the hotel. Somehow it seemed to be easier to our hotel after a few drinks.

 

Tower Bridge: C’est Tres Bon… (for me -not so beautiful without the Olympics rings).