Wonders of Eastern Europe

Of we go again. We checked out of our hotel in Nice about 8:00 on Sunday morning and at 3:30 we were checking into our hotel in Prague. It was time to join the Christmas Market tour. When we arrived at the hotel there was a sign telling us that the tour guide would meet us all at 6:30 for a welcome dinner. So, rather than sit around the hotel we put on our explorer's capes and off we went for a walk. We picked up a tourist map from reception and asked the guy  where the markets were?... just around the corner, so off we went and this is what we found...

You know... sometimes words just don't say it well enough. I'm not even going to try to compare this city with any other. It's unique in so many ways; from the old town, where you can wander through 14th century buildings; to the Charles Bridge, which has the ability to put a spell of contentment on you; to the little town that has it's own charms and wonders; to the palace, where you can lose yourself in the majesty of days gone by, or, become engrossed in the day to day activities of the Czech Republic, 'cause the President still has his offices in the palace that was built for the Habsburg Dynasty in the 16th century. And one of the best things about this city, is that it's so easy to stroll from one place to the next.

The people in this wonderful city are also unique. It becomes obvious when you interact with them that their physic has become imprinted with the unfortunate circumstances of their history. Since the rise of the Habsburgs (Austrians) in the 14th century, right through until they gained their independence from the Soviet Union in 1993, they have been ruled by foreign powers that have enforced their own ideology, this has ranged from strict Catholicism under the Habsburgs, to National Socialism under Nazi Germany, to Communism under the Soviet Union. Now, twenty years on, they are still struggling to form their own identity, strongly influenced by the influx of designer labels like Prada, Gucci, Hermes, and Cartier; all aided and abetted by McDonalds and Starbucks. 

I gotta say I was grateful to find a Starbucks, 'cause Europeans don't know how to make coffee!

But the thing is, when you're dealing with a Czeck, you don't know if their head's in the 21st century or the 20th century - until you're a few minutes into the interaction and it then becomes clear. 

21st century Czeck equals, "welcome Mr and Mrs Tourist".

20th century Czeck equals, "you must dot this i before you are allowed to proceed!"

But bureaucracy aside, we had a great couple of days with a young local guide, who showed us all over the place, and included some very unexpected sights - like the "John Lennon Wall"...

There's a whole 'nother story here - but not now 'cause I've got other stuff to tell you. But before we get to that, here's a few more photos of Prague...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102502153151045712202/Prague?noredirect=1

So after Prague we wandered off to Vienna - by way of Cesky Krumlov. This place was kinda like the Habsburg's summer holiday cottage (Palace) and now it seems to exist solely for tourists. There are daily tours from Prague and it's well worth the trip...

Again, lots of history - amazing buildings and scenery and some very entertaining stories of past events by our local guide. We wandered round for a couple of hours until we were all frozen, had a group lunch, quick march back to the bus to defrost and then a nap on the way to Vienna.

Here's a few more photos. Check out the dodgy guy on the chair...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102502153151045712202/CeskyKrumlov?noredirect=1

And then it's on to Wien (Vienna).

Check this out...

This is Elizabeth (Sisi) Habsburg's summer getaway in Vienna. It's called Schönbrunn Palace. It must have been good to be a Habsburg back in the day.

Do you remember the photos of the Palace of Versailles? Well, that place was just OTT. This place is pure class and is truly beautiful. Absolutely no photos allowed so you'll either have to take my word for it or go and have a look yourself.

Here's some photos of the back yard...

Imagine what it must look like in summer!!

Now Vienna itself - is definitely on the list of places to go back to. We only really had one full day there and that was filled with group tours, which were fantastic, but they just gave us a little taste of a vibrant, cosmopolitan city with stunning architecture, beautiful parks and arguably, the best Christmas Markets we found in our travels...

So, for the two nights we were there we wandered the Christmas Markets and bought a few bits and bobs to take home. Then, all too soon it was off to Budapest by way of Bratislava. But before we get to Slovarkia and Hungray, here's a few more photos of Vienna...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102502153151045712202/Vienna?noredirect=1

Now, when you leave Vienna heading East, Budapest is straight in front of you, and about halfway between is Bratislava, the capital of Slovarkia. Remember the country that used to be called Czechoslavarkia? Well, back in the day, the politicians got involved and split the country in two. According to the locals in both the Czech Republic and Slovarkia the people didn't get a say when the split happened and would have liked for both countries to stay together, now believing things would be better for both counties, but it wasn't to be.

Anyway, we spent a couple of hours in the old town of Bratislava, and caught a few glimpses of the new town. Bratislava's claim to fame seems to be Hans Christian Anderson. Apparently this is where he was born, raised and spent the majority of his life. Word has it he was a bit of a hermit and didn't socialize particularly well, had a wicked sense of humour and took great delight in taking the mickey out of important visitors to the town. Despite this he is recognised as their most famous son, and of course, has his own statue. Here it is with a few other views of Bratislava...

The little Merry-Go-Round's pretty cool. It's operated by a hand crank. The girl in the photo's winding away and round and round go the little ones. If you look Bratislava up on the interweb it tells you all about a castle. It sits up on a hill and overlooks the whole town, but our guide didn't say much about it, and 'cause we were only there for a couple of hours, we didn't even get close to it. Maybe next time.

Anyway, we wandered about for a bit, then back on the bus for the last leg to Budapest.

Here's a few more images of Bratislava...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102502153151045712202/Bratislava?noredirect=1

Our last destination in Europe. Budapest. Unfortunately we only got to spend three nights there. I don't want to make comparisons between cities 'cause each one has it's own unique character. But I have to say that Budapest left a lasting impression of beauty, charm and, significantly, old world politics. We arrived late in the afternoon after stopping in Bratislava, so the first thing we did after checking in was to wander down to the Christmas Markets - and they were OK, but they need work. Probably the biggest problem was trying to fit too many stalls into a relatively small space, 'cause this just made it very cramped and extremely difficult to move and to get to the various stalls.

The actual shopping precinct was a different story. There's a long, wide pedestrian mall area that just goes on and on and on and on... and you can buy everything, and anything very, very cheaply. I'd hafta say... If you're going to Europe to shop, go the Budapest.

At the end of the shopping mall you come to a beautiful building....

and I bet you can't guess what's inside? Go on, have a guess!!

Here's a clue...

Yep! It's an indoor market. But not just any indoor market. This building was built in 1896 as an indoor market, and now recognized as the oldest market in the world. It's absolutely huge inside, covers two stories and you can buy pretty much any food you can think of. But one of the most impressive things about it is how clean it is. 

So that was our first afternoon. That night we went for a river cruise. But not just any river cruise, check out some of the things that make Budapest special...

So, onto the next day, and it was up bright and early to visit the Parliment Building. That's it in the first photo. Now, here's a bit of a history lesson. Hungray was behind the Iron Curtain until 1993, so they've been trying to sort out who they are for the past 20 years. In the shopping areas you can find the same stores and names you'll find on the Champs De Élysées in Paris, but in the areas of government, the beauracracy seems to be just one step away from communism. When we turned up for the Parliment Building tour - where our names and numbers needed to be supplied days ago - we were made to wait outside for the best part of half an hour - then escorted to a side door by two Army Guards - then made to wait for another half hour - then channelled, one at a time, through a security checkpoint, and eventually found ourselves inside where we were given the "do's and dont's" while inside.

Then the tour started, with a Parlimentary Guard at the front and the rear of the tour group...

See the bottom photo on the right? Guess what it is?

No hints this time.

Now, here's something I sure you'll be very happy to know: Budapest is actually two cities... One is called Pest and is on one side of the Danube and pretty new 'cause it was destroyed in the second world war. The other is called Buda - on the other side of the river - and is the old city from centuries ago. All of the above is to do with Pest (pronounced Pescht) and the stuff coming up is all to do with Buda. 

So after the Parliment Building tour and a bit of lunch, it was off to visit Buda, particularly St Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion. These are side by side and in the middle of the Buda Castle District...

No photos of the inside of the church but here's a few of and from the Fisherman's Bastion...

So, the one thing we are sure of about Budapest after our two days there, is - it will be well worth going back for another visit.

Here's a few more photos from Budapest...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102502153151045712202/Budapest?noredirect=1

The day after...

It was all over. Twenty-four hours of flying over the next two days and we were home.

Our thoughts... we just both wanted to keep going. So, next time... Who knows!

It's been great sharing this with you all and thanks to those who gave me feedback and encouragement to keep this going.

A special thank you to Jacquie from The House of Travel for all her hard work. You did a brilliant job for us that made all the difference and we appreciate it very much.

To all of you - have a great Christmas and safely enjoy the New Year.

Bye, from Denise and Chris.

Wanderin' 'round the South of France.

So, last day of the River Cruise and we ended up with half a day of free time in Arles. (Pronounced "Arrll"). Because we've created a few dramas for ourselves on this trip by making assumptions, we decided to spend some time checking out our next move - which involved moving from the ship into a hotel in Arles. So, we picked up a tourist map from the ship - which shows something less than half the streets in any given town - and off we went. 

Now, for those of us who are just a little bit geographically challenged, if you look at a map, and the writing is the right way up, north always seems to be left! Unless... You're in the Northern Hemisphere, where the next rule applies: "When in doubt, turn right!" So following these simple guidelines we wandered about Arles for the next couple of hours, and found all sorts of interesting bits and bobs... Or, things that my wife has come to refer to as... "Bits of old tat!" So, here's one of the bits we found...

This is the Roman Ampitheatre in Arles. Do you know the difference between a Roman Ampitheatre and a Roman Theatre? 

I do... Here's a hint... This is a Roman Theatre in Orange...

See the difference? So now you know!... But do you care?

Now, one more piece of unnecessary information I picked up... The theatre in Orange is the best, most original and most complete example of a Roman Theatre in the Western Roman Empire. Not entirely sure where the Western Roman Empire is, but hey!

Ok, enough of that...

So, before we left New Zealand, we were told that we should take the opportunity to see The Camarge while we were in the South of France. The guide on one of the tours we were on... somewhere... said we should go and see The Camarge. When we went to the tourist information centre in Arles, the lady there said we should go and visit The Camarge... So we did... and here it is...

Mmmmmmmmm??

But once you get through The Camarge you get to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on the Mediterranean Coast and it's all different - not necessarily better - just different...

So, lesson learned... don't visit The Camarge or Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in November.

Anyway, we mooched around Arles for the next couple of days and then moved on to Orange, which is a little further inland, just on the north side of Avignon. We spent four days there and wandered about all over the place. We had a great day at Pont du Gard. This surprised me a bit, 'cause when it was offered as a tour on the river cruise it didn't sound particularly interesting, but we had a day to spare so wandered down to have a look... I'm really glad we did...

Check out the photo on the bottom left. See the dude in the arch? This'll give you an idea of how huge this thing is. They've got a museum there that tells the whole story and they've re-enacted some of the building work and made videos. Great place to visit.

Now for those of you who've been following our adventures and taking notes as we move about, I'm sure you'll know that we went to Viviers when we were on the river cruise. Remember?? 

'Cause you do... It's where we went on the Ghost Walk and it was one of the highlights of the cruise.

Ok? Up with the play now? When we were there it looked like it'd be a good place to see in daylight, and we were right... Here's a couple of photos, but there's more in the album...

This is the view from the top of the wall of the old fortress.

And this is the old watchtower on top of the wall of the old fortress. It was well worth the return trip.

Anyway, we spent a nice few days around Orange and then it was off to Nice for a day and a bit. On the way we played silly buggers with the toll booths on the motorways... Again!! But we eventually got there. In hindsight we probably should have spent a day less in Orange and an extra day in Nice. We were kinda planning on spending some of our time going to see Monte Carlo, but there was so much to see in Nice that we just ended up staying there.

The first night we arrived we wandered off for a walk and found our first Christmas Markets...

Pretty cool, huh?

Problem was, it was all glitz and bling and pretty ordinary markets. Even so, it was quite something to see, and we get to see some real markets in the next few days.

Next stop after Nice is Prague, so I'll tell you all about that next. In the meantime here's some more photos of the South of France...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102502153151045712202/SouthOfFrance?noredirect=1

Bye for now.

Blue stuff...

Right men... This is how it works... I'm pretty sure most of the info and facts are right, but I wouldn't bet your last paycheck on it.

There's a ship on the Rhine River called "MS Amachello". This is an Aria class vessel and carries a maximum of 150 people.

There's another vessel on the Rhone River called the "MS Amadagio". Also an Aria class ship. They refer to them as sister ships but they're not really. The Amadagio is quite a bit older than the Amachello with some slightly different design features. Something you really notice as a passenger when you go from one to the other.

Now, all this info refers to the Amadagio 'cause the Captain of the Amachello was a bit of a loner and not very approachable. Which is fine, as long as he keeps the ship afloat when I'm on it I'm not complaining.

Captain Chalk of the Amachello, and Captain Cheese of the Amadagio.

Anyway... The Amadagio...

Length: 210 metres. The Captains' Certificates allow them to operate vessels up to a maximum of 220 metres. To operate on a German River you must speak German, and to operate on a French River you must speak French. (Makes perfect sense to me!). The road rules are very different on both Rivers, and a lot of that is to do with the average widths of the rivers and the volumes of traffic. Way, way more on the Rhine.

Main Power: 2 x Cummins Diesels, each develops 1150 horsepower. They use on average, 1400 litres of fuel per trip. Obviously more going upstream and less going down.

Average Speed upstream is 11 kph and downstream is 18 kph. Apparently you don't use knots as a speed reference on inland waterways. Top cruising speed is 22kph. If anyone knows what the top speed is they're not telling - 'cause if you know it means you've broken the law.

Drive Train: 360 degree Stern Drives with fixed props. These Stern Drives are computer controlled to stay in sync, and the ship can be steered using a single joystick, or each Stern Drive can be manipulated independently. Sorry to you boaties if I'm using the wrong terminology, but hopefully you know the bits I'm talkin' about.

There's a six cylinder Cummins Diesel in the bow, powering a single, reversible tunnel prop that acts as the bow thruster. When they crank it up you've got to make sure you've got a firm hold on your drink.

There are two other Cummins Generator units, one is used for the ship and the other is for the hotel, and then there is one other Cummins Generator unit that's classed as "emergency".

Each vessel's displacement is a little over 1500 tonne, the majority of which is ballast, all of which is fuel. The vessels carry enough fuel to perform their normal operations for a little under a month.

So, the wheelhouse...

Check this out...

The Amachello on the top and the Amadagio on the bottom. Spot the difference?

No wheelhouse and no radar mast visible on the Amadagio. They lower these as necessary to get under bridges. So now, here comes the good bit...

By the way, these photos coming up were taken with me sitting in a deck chair. I wasn't allowed to stand on the deck 'cause I would've bumped my head on the bridge. You'll see why in a tick...

Here's the Amadagio approaching a low bridge - which is not really a low bridge. The problem's high water. Anyway...

Here we are passing under the bridge...

This is looking backward towards the guy steering the ship...

And here we come out from under the bridge... That guy you can see is the Second Officer standing in the wheelhouse with his head out the top hatch.

And this is how they make the top deck fit under...

Deck chairs, handrails and canopies all collapsed flat.

The ship's speed going under this bridge was just a tad under 18 kph. I asked the Captain how they knew how much clearance they had and the answer I got... "We just know!"

So, here's the inside of the wheelhouse...

Straight in front, just off the floor: redundant radar systems with an electronic chart plotter in the middle. The flat screens are for real time performance information. The little wheels on each side are for individual steering control and in the centre of each wheel is a throttle lever for each engine. The joystick that pulls it all together is just behind the RHS steering wheel. You can see it in this next picture.

Pretty cool... Huh?

So, high water, flooding - sorta, debris in the water, and look what you find when you open the doors of the lock...

Mmmm... Gotta keep goin... No room to manoeuvre... How're we gonna get past this?

I know!! Let's use the bow thruster to push it all out in front of us.

Ok... Slowly slowly, now...

Whoa!! There's a bloody great log in the middle of that..

So, after about fifteen minutes of blasting the debris with the bow thruster and shaken' the s#^t out of the ship, this sailed out from underneath...

And off we went...

And now, off I go...

See ya.

Roamin' down the Rhone...

And so we arrived in Lyon, France. The coach - I'm not supposed to call it a bus - pulls off the motorway, makes it through the tollbooth and then pulls over. After a few minutes of discussion between our German guide, the Spanish Bus - sorry "coach" - Driver and a lady up the front who wanted to know what was going on, it turns out the bus - sorry "coach" - driver didn't know where to go and was waiting for the other bus - sorry "coach" - to turn up to lead the way. Anyway, eventually off we went. Wandering through the suburbs of Lyon for the next twenty minutes or so until we came to a river. Across we go, faithfully following the other bus - sorry "coach" - off the bridge, right turn and follow the river. 

Turns out there are two rivers in Lyon. Who knew? Obviously not the bus - sorry "coach" - drivers, and the river we were following was the Saone when we should have been following the Rhone. Easy mistake, right? Anyway, they sorted themselves out and away we went to find another bridge. Across we went, turn right and follow the river. Beauty! So after a bit the bus - sorry "coach" - in front does another right and crosses another bridge...?? Mmmmm! When we get to the other side he does another right turn, so now we're heading back the way we came, but on the other side of the river. But don't worry... 'cause when we get to the next bridge he does another right - crosses the river again - does another right and we're all sweet... Albeit a bit confused! Anyway we eventually find the ship - 'cause you're not allowed to call it a boat - and start to board. 

First impression of the new craft? The guy playing an accordion to welcome us on board with his little brother standing beside him...

Just in case I forget - this musician is great. He played in the lounge every afternoon for the next week and his choice of music and the volume were perfect. I hope he gets a permanent gig, 'cause he was good.

So, on we go and sort ourselves out, then it's into the lounge for the Captain's Welcome. Some of us got a bit more of a welcome than others...

I tried to get a cuddle from "just call me Captain Danni" but... Cest la vie.

So there were a few surprises during the welcome. Turns out if you've got four gold bars on the sleeve of your jacket you get to be captain. There's another story there but I'll tell you about that later. Next surprise; new Cruise Director. Unfortunately Kate had to leave us but, she left us in Emma's more than capable hands. Next surprise; we're staying in Lyon for a day or two, 'cause the river's too high and we can't get under the bridges. But don't fret - nobody's missing out on anything 'cause we've arranged to do the next day's tours by bus - sorry "coach" - and it means we get to spend an extra night in Lyon. Anyway, it's all good 'cause the boat - sorry "ship" - is full of Aussies on holiday and as long as the bar's stocked who cares?

Now as it turned out, this was the start of what became a pretty hectic week. Looking back, I'm pretty sure the only person who would know where we went and which tours we did over the next seven days would be the Cruise Director and I wouldn't be surprised if she was a bit confused about it all, as well. I know it wasn't quite, but it felt like two different tours each day, every day - and like a good pseudo Aussie tourist I'm never satisfied. If there had been less I'd be complaining of "not enough to do". Anyway, I'm not really going to tell you about the tours yet, except that, the one that scored highest was the "Ghost Walk" at Viviers and there were two that scored the lowest - the day we spent at Rudesheim and the tour we did of the Papal Palace in Avignon.

Anyway, here's some photos of Margurite, the ghost of Viviers...

And here's a photo of Margurite's mum and dad, who were our tour guides for the night....

Not only was this tour fun and interesting, because of the way it was done it's something we'll remember.

So on we sailed and there were lots of other interesting bits that you'll hear about, but eventually we reached Arles, and now comes the tricky bit...

I don't really want to end this post with a negative, 'cause overall, we had a good time and enjoyed ourselves. But, APT, you should know that the ship's staff got the disembarkation all wrong, and left six of your customers with a very poor last impression. The instructions for those staying in Arles - and there were six of us - were to place our bags in the corridor at 09:00 so the porters could move them out onto the dock. Not before 09:00, or they would be mixed up with other luggage going onto Monte Carlo or Barcelona, and then to wait in the lounge until 9:30 when a taxi would arrive to take us to our hotels. So, out went the luggage into the corridor, out went us, into the lounge, and not two minutes later one of the ship's crew came to tell us the taxi was waiting. 

So off we go to the taxi (mini van), to discover the luggage is still in the corridor on the ship. There's no staff to be seen anywhere so, back we go, manhandle the suitcases down the stairs to the lobby - which is absolutely deserted - and start to lug it up the gangway, across another vessel we're moored to - up another gangway, to the taxi. Very poor, we thought. Then to add insult to injury, the taxi driver demanded 10€ each for three couples to take us from one side of town to the other - a distance Denise and I walked the next day in less than fifteen minutes.

Sorry APT, but not a nice note to end on.

Anyway, now we've moved on to the next little adventure, which is a few days in Arles and a few days in Orange, but more about that later.

In the meantime here's some photos from some of the tours we did and a few of life on the river.

https://picasaweb.google.com/102502153151045712202/LyonToArles?noredirect=1

Bye, now!

Just get on the bus, will ya!!

When I was at school one of the things that a teacher told me that actually stuck was... "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line". So, when I found out we had to leave one vessel at Basel on the Rhine and move to another vessel at Lyon on the Rhone, and we had to do it by Coach, I looked up Google Maps and found out they agree. There's two major routes that go between these places - one takes almost three hours and the other takes a bit over four hours. But, as it turns out, the best way to go takes something over ten hours...

Now, so far on this River Cruise, we'd been on four or five bus tours and there's one thing that I know for sure... I'm not a fan. Denise likes 'em. Get her on a bus and you can almost guarantee she'll be asleep within five minutes. But, I gotta say, if you're gonna be stuck on a bus for ten hours, this is a really nice way to do it.

The first place we stopped was Gruyeres. Yep... World famous for cheese. But is should be world famous for the views as well...

This is what the view was like from the bus on the way...

Yep! That's snow alright!

And this is what it's like from the rest stop on the side of the highway in Gruyeres...

So, after a walk around, a cup of tea and a pitstop, it was on to Vevey on Lake Geneva for lunch. My old mate Charlie Chaplin used to live here and he's quite a celebrity with the locals, so we had a bit of a catchup...

and then took in the view over the lake while we had our lunch...

So, despite my misgivings and wingeing when we set out (sorry Darling!), it turned out to be a really great trip. A few hours after leaving Vevey we arrived in Lyon to start our next little adventure, but I'll tell you more about that later.

In the meantime, here's a few more photos of Switzerland.

https://picasaweb.google.com/102502153151045712202/BaselToLyon?noredirect=1

See ya, Bye!

What??... Explain yourself!!

It sounds like I'm confusing some of you with these posts, (not mentioning any names, Ashleigh Storey!) so here's an attempt to clarify a couple of things... If some of you are still a bit fuzzy about what I'm talkin' about... Wweeeelll!!

So... What's a "lock"? As far as I can work out the correct name for "Lock" in German is "Lock". But the name for ""Lock" in French is "ecluses", and here's an attempt to explain what a lock is...

- Bored yet??

The Rhine River springs into life in the Swiss Alps. From the spring it flows north and meets the sea in Holland. The spring is something over 2000 metres above sea level. A lot of this difference in altitude is reduced at the start of the river, but as the river flows through Germany, the altitude of the river is still quite high and falls gradually as it moves towards the mouth. 

But, vessels can't normally navigate these falls, due to natural hazards like "narrows" and "waterfalls" and "rapids". So, every now and then, along the length of the river weirs (small dams) were built, so on the upstream side of the river the water would be one height and on the downstream side the water level would be significantly lower. The differerence between the upstream and downstream levels varies from place to place and is normally about ten metres, but can be as much as 23 metres.

Now, to get a vessel either up or down the river, past these weirs, they built locks into the weirs. This is what a typical lock looks like, when you look at it from upstream where the level's higher...

So, if you're going downstream, you enter the lock at the high level, they close the doors behind you and let the water out of the lock - to flow downstream until you're at the downstream level. Then they open the downstream gates and away you go. 

If you're going upstream, you enter the lock at the lower level and they close the doors behind you. Once you're all tucked in they let water from the upstream side flow into the lock, until you rise to the upstream level. Then they open the upstream gates and away you go. Clear as mud?

Anyway, this is us, sitting in a lock, heading downstream, waiting for the lock doors to close behind us and for the water to be released downstream...

Here we are in the same place after the level's been lowered... 

We're looking at a sheer concrete wall...

and here we are coming out of the lock on the downstream side...

K??

Now, to get really boring... "French Balcony"

Back in the day, Napolean decided to sort out Paris and to get rid of all the cramped housing and sewers in the street to try to eliminate diseases, etc... So he hired a guy named Housemann who basically flattened Paris and rebuilt it. Housemann designed a particular style of house that used "French Doors", as windows.... See? These are now known as "Housemannian" apartments.

Anyway, a "French Door" opens outwards and is about 300 to 400 millimetres wide, so needs this amount of space to open. In most buildings, the door is set back a little in the frame and what you end up with is a balustrade (railing) that sits a few hundred millimetres off the face of the building. This is to allow the door to open. This small space means you can actually go outside and close the door behind you.

But... On the ships we've been travelling on, which advertise cabins with "French Balconys", they use sliding doors and the gap between the doors and the ballustrade is only about fifty millimetres. So, no matter how hard my wife makes me try, I can't go out onto the "French Balcony" and close the door behind me.

See what I mean? 

Now that I've explained all this, do you really care?

No, thought not. Me either!

And a very good night to you.