“Nothing is so difficult but that may be found out by seeking." Terrence [BC 185 - 157] [Roman writer of comedies.]

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BACK - Europe Sept 2004 Part 1
 

Europe Sept 2004 Part 2 - Alsace.

Traveling south east into France we find the price of wine down and the price of diesel up as you get closer to the German border. We pay €0.94 for diesel in Metz, although the Atac supermarket has a cards only unmanned outlet selling at €0.89.

You can never find a SONP late in the afternoon and after passing a number of good ones earlier in the day finally stop at a disused road section near D910 X D999. Generally in France the D roads have no or very few stopping places and the N roads are better provided with facilities for travellers.

ALDI and LIDL stores are worth checking out regularly as you cross back and forth from country to country as they have some great specials. Today at LIDI we bought a pair of three section telescopic walking sticks for €11.99. Best value I've seen. They are very useful for walking on steep tracks and I had wanted a pair, (we will use one each) since being in the Lake District of the UK last March. Then I missed the best bargains available but this is an even better price, and good quality too. I've also seen 50 blank CDs fore €9.99 and 5 blank DVDs for €4.99, as well as 50 sheets of 210gsm glossy photo paper A4 size for €6.95 and even a compete satellite TV receiver and antenna dish for €89.99. The specials in LIDL and ALDI change weekly so it's always worth a look. Apart from that the limited range of food products which is always very competitively priced, they have the best wine specials in France.

26/09/2004. Sun. Han-s-Nied, France. Fast trains passing close by in the night disturbed us little. Sometimes you can't find a good SONP, although had we continued a few kilometers there were several nice rest areas, for which we recorded the GPS waypoints.

This would rate as less than a one X grade SONP in the comments in our waypoint file. A desperation SONP.

 

27/09/2004. Mon. Wangenbourg Forest, France. Mushrooms and forest walk. We found many varieties of mushrooms, and locals had been collecting some of them to eat. Not knowing which were edible I just photographed a number of varieties an I'll try and find out about then from the Internet. That has proved difficult, for although there is lots of information on fungi, I have concluded that you also need some local knowledge to safely be sure of those that are edible. Maybe we will make some inquiries of any mushroom gatherers we see in future in a French forest.

For FREE water go to Rosheim at Lat 48.504170 Lon 7.489730 on the side of a small brown building opposite the bus stop on the same side of the road as the LIDL supermarket, there is a hose tap. We filled with fresh good water there and thoroughly commend it you all.

Just watch out for a mad Frenchman, who may rush out from a nearly factory premises and physically remonstrate with you. If he does don't worry, he is a piss weak loud mouthed little bastard, so just ignore him. I'm 60 years old and he precedes to abuse verbally, assault and and wrestle with me, only to find he is as weak as an infant. I just pushed him off with ease. He thinks he owns the place. Maybe he does, but there is no excuse for his rude violent behavior. The tap appears to be in a public place. Get him to call the Police, and I'm sure they will get sick of his insane behavior, and tell him to either put up a sign that it isn't a public tap, which it looks like, lock it, or remove it.

 

Strasbourg.

After searching for a conventional French Municipal Campsite, that apparently does not exist on the eastern side of Strasbourg, we eventually found the free campervan parking area Strasbourg in the Rhine Park. There is height barrier, but you can get in the exit by pressing the emergency red button. Trouble is there is no indication of this but the tourist office told us. The free camper van park is rather crowded and obviously designed originally as a car park, the plots are too small. There is water and a dump point, but little else. OK for a free SONP, but not very grand. The entrance is almost opposite the tourist information office (off the eastbound lane) just before the Reihn bridge leading toKeil, the twin town on the German side of the river. Signs indicate parking reserved for visitors, but don't indicate campervan facilities at all. Then once through the barrier south about a kilometer.

28/09/2004. Tue. Strasbourg. Cycled into Strasbourg for a baguette and pate, and then into Keil for brot and spinach at a farmers market. Cycling along the Rein is a bit of a loss at present because of a festival most of the access is blocked off to the developed sections of a new parkland on both sides of the river in the vicinity of the bridge. After October 2004 it should be a pleasant area to explore from the free camper park.

29/09/2004. Wed. We drove to near the European Parliament quarter of Strasbourg and were able to park the camper near "The Orangary", which is a large botanic gardens. In most European cities you only have to pay for parking in the very heart of the City, unlike the UK where there is the cursed Pay and Display system all over the place. Strasbourg is small enough to be a very drivable city, traffic is surprisingly light and you can park easily to get to the center by bicycle. And what a delightful center it is. The architecturally impressive cathedral is undergoing massive restoration, and new landscaping and road improvements are going on all over the city as it adjusts to its new role as the capital of the European Union.

Strasbourg Canals Panorama.

The area of Strasbourg known as "Petite France" is a real delight, canals and well preserved mediaeval buildings. The only thing missing is a few Frieturrs or German sausage vendors stalls. The only food outlets are innumerable restaurants, and the odd patisserie. It's a bit too clinically clean, and a few stalls and street vendors would add to the atmosphere. You don't always want a sit down meal that costs €35 for two, but a delicious German sausage, or some of those great chips they make in Belgium would be great.

In a way they are still very insular in Europe, they don't share each others quesines a lot. This is France, so you never see a German sausage vendor, or a Belgian style chip stall (or Freiuterr). Yet these things are only a short distance away. In Australia we seem to have accumulated the best everybody has to offer, and if I have to make a criticism, its that they are so culturally insular. I suppose the language differences and the history of wars contribute it, but please, get over it and enjoy each others offerings more. Then there really will be a united Europe, and it does NOT mean loosing YOUR culture, just to reassure the Frogs. Bonjour is as French as G'day mate is Australian, we integrated diverse cultures in Oz, so can you in Europe.

30/09/2004. Thu. Strasbourg to Haute Koeiningsburg. We find another ALDI and LIDL side by side along the road on the German side of the Rein. Beer 6 x 500ml for €1.65. and Graffen Walder beer for €0.19 a 330ml can, and sure enough nicer wholemeal bread in Germany. A Penny Mart store is somewhat similar in concept to ALDI but also sometimes has a fresh bakery, and delicatessen where you can get pate and a variety of fresh German sausages. Now in Germany sausage (worst) isn't just sausage, here sausage is an art form, with an infinite variety of styles. You just have to investigate them, with sauerkraut and mustard.

We spent the night in a rest area along N59, a bit noisy at night, and you would be better of in one of the forest parking areas on D481, the road up to Haute Koneingsburg.

01/10/2004. Fri. Returned to Haute Koeingsburg castle. This is one of the most visited tourist spots in France, and understandably so. The fully restored, and furnished, military strong point is very interesting and the audio guided tour is well worth taking although it is additional to the admission price of €7.50.

The audioguiude is €4 extra, and a second set of headphones €1.50 more. It is informative and interesting an a worthwhile extra if you are doing the tour.

I would commend this castle tour to anyone, as it is completely and very well restored and furnished, and as it is an excellent example of a military castle of its period, quite different from the much newer fantasy castle of King Ludwig of Bavaria, Neuschwansterin at Fussen in Bavaria.

We certainly don't pay to see every attraction, there are simply too many, but by our standards of value this is a good historic site to visit.

Highly Commended must see site - Haute Koeingsburg castle.

Several good SONPS along road up to the castle near . Bergheim and Ribeauville.

 

 

 

 

 

 

02/10/2004. Sat. Ribeauville, we spent the night in the village camper parking area with about 20 other vans, cost €1.50. There are free toilets, but the dump station costs €2.00. Overnight parking for campers at Kayserberg costs €4.00, day parking €2 and at Riquewhir €2.00 a day. These areas all very colorful villages but the whole area is a tourist hot spot and after you have seen a few of the towns and villages there is a certain sameness about them. So we park where it is free or costs least, and just drive through the villages that charge the most. There is free parking at Turckheim, that would make a passable SONP, so we stopped there too for lunch and a cycle ride around the town to buy a baguette at the patisserie to have with lunch of assorted cheeses, Bismarck herrings, sauerkraut, sausage and mustard.

 

Our overall impression is that supermarket food is not much different in price (at exchange parity) to in Australia. Some things are considerably cheaper, beef is more expensive. Wine, beer and all other sorts of alcoholic beverage are MUCH cheaper than Australia, and a mere fraction of the prices in the UK. On the other hand restaurant food is more expensive.

The innumerable sidewalk restaurants average around €15 a two or maybe three course meal for lunch. Now while that isn't an expensive restaurant, even by our lowly standards influenced by the low value of the A$, (currently A$1.00 = €0.58) keep in mind that there are literally thousands of them and eating out seems almost as much a way of life in Europe as it is in Asia, where it's a lot cheaper. There aren't any places like the Australian sports clubs where you can get a good evening meal for around the A$7 price of a roast with veg, on the weekly special "Roast Night".

I'm disinclined to eat out at restaurants a lot, both because of the cost and because I find many of them are disappointing, and we can have such excellent, and much better, meals at home in the van, very cheaply using ingredients bought in the supermarket.

Cheeses in ALDI and LIDL supermarkets average around €4.00 a kilo and upwards for the basic varieties, and there are lots of specialty types of cheese for a bit more. Pate is another must try, and ranges in price from around €5 to €15 a kilo.

We visited Colmar and found free parking in the coach park north of the town where it appears that campervans stay overnight. Not very attractive setting, but if you want to overnight in the city it will do. Colmar is another {larger) town with an attractive old central district, now surrounded by high rise public housing blocks of flats. Nothing very different from the other tourist towns and villages along this wine road tourist trek. Thousands of elderly tourists come in busses to this area, mostly French and Germans, and I wonder that they haven't seen all this too often before, but apparently not.

Another castle at Hohlandsbourg came to our attention, so we drove out along the D11 via Turckheim then south on minor roads to see. It is still being restored, but is not in the same class as Koeingsburg and even at €5.50 a couple admission isn't as good value in my opinion. We just looked around but didn't pay admission. Along the road which passes by a number of ruined castles there are some good forest SONPs, and we spent the night near Pflixbourg.

03/10/2004. Sun. Pflixbourg Forest. We travelled east via Neuf Brisach. This is a most unusual town built around 1,700 as a fortified town on the orders of the King, it incorporates extensive fortifications reflecting the military technology of the time. Having been purpose built on a new site it is unlike any other walled town we have seen where the conventional walls are most often dating back to around 1200 to 1400. While all the fortifications have been preserved nothing has been restored and the town does not seem to attempt to present itself as a tourist attraction, as do other towns of the area. The gun batteries are all boarded up and locked, and the mounds of earth faced with low walls and empty moats are partly overgrown. It has a large central square, and its unusual construction gives it great possibilities for restoration as a probably unique example of eighteenth century military architecture..

We then followed the Canal De Alsace south to Chalampe where across the bridge, between the canal and the Rhine we found an excellent SONP along the canal bank.

04/10/2004. Mon. Rhine Canal de Alsace, Chalampe. Today we took a drive in the Black Forest as far as Schonau im Schwarzwald and Weiden and returned to our previous SONP on the banks of the Rhine. The area is one of rolling forested hills and small villages with many hotels and guest houses and is popular with Germans for walking and cycling. For us the hills were too steep to attempt cycling. A pleasant drive, but nothing really spectacular.

Being mindful of our remaining time we decided not to go further east into Germany but to begin to make our way across France to the west coast and our return to Calais where we are due on November 2nd for the return to the UK.

05/10/204. Tue. Rhein Canal de Alsace, Chalampe. We drove to Mulhouse, only to find the city engaged in what may be best if somewhat dramatically described as an orgy of roadworks, further complicating the already difficult navigation. I've never seen a town with so much of its streets dug up at one time. The city is one of those we often consider too large to make visiting an easy and pleasant task, and after driving around, finding it difficult to keep heading in our desired direction because of one way streets, and the endless roadworks, we decided to just pass through and on towards Belfort via D419.

Mulhouse would be a much better place to visit when this road work is completed in a year or two, as it has several interesting museums the National Automobile and Railway Museums. I suppose the problem would be if you don't speak French, there may not be a lot of interpretation in English, as they don't make more than the essential concessions to foreign language here in France.

This area of France close to the Swiss border is densely populated, almost continuos villages merging into one another.

Diesel is also expensive in this part of France, no doubt also due to being close to Switzerland, (where everything is more expensive than any where else in Europe), often over €1 a liter, but a Super U service station was selling for €0.93 in Altkirch.

At Chavannes-s-l-Etene we found an excellent SONP. A FREE park for campers with water, dump point, electricity, toilets and information map. On the D419 on the Alsace provincial border.

Water is probably the most difficult need to find free in Europe. Not all service stations have free water on tap as do in most UK and Australian stations, and taps are very rare in gardens etc.

The situation in France is much better than most other countries as there are several thousand Aires de Services for camping cars, which offer water and dumpsites, often free, sometimes requiring a fee of one or two Euro. There is a listing of these sites at arranged by French administrative department at http://www.campingcar-infos.com/Francais/ more details are given in the report of our 2005 tour of France Spain and Portugal. The GPS positions given on the site are not always accurate see the 2005 trip commentary.

Public toilets are also VERY rare in Europe compared to Australia, so a dump point for emptying the Thetford Cassette toilet is also a valuable find.

Of course they are at camp grounds, but campgrounds are generally a waste of time and money. As more and more European baby-boomers take to the roads in their new campervans, more facilities will have to be provided. It is noticeable how many new campers are on the roads here. New models (under 5 years old) vastly outnumber older vans, such as ours, indicating the huge growth in campervan touring going on in Europe.

06/10/2004. Wed. Chavennes-s-l-Etene. . Driving west to Belfort we easily found a tourist office who provided a free map and (shock) even some brochures in English, and advised of several areas where campervans can park in town. They are rather poor and unattractive parking areas, but at least you won't be hassled. Police cruised by early in the evening. No hassle, just some pedestrian fool passing at 5AM knocks on the door and yells "Hello", it seems there are idiots everywhere.

Belfort is another relatively modern fortified town, with extensive fortifications dating from around 1,700, and was prominent in the Franco-Prussian war of 1,870-1,871. Similar in design to Neuf-Briscach, but on a larger scale. The earthworks and fortifications, and up to the panoramic views from the top of the castle you can tour free, but a FEE applies to enter the "museum" in the castle and to see the statue of a Lion, symbol of the city sculpted by Bartholdi, we didn't bother with these. There are interpretive signs in English and German.

One does not find the sort of fortifications around Belfort in England, and the reason is simply that there was no need for them. In the period in question England, being an island, did not face the same threat from land based enemies as did France, from their enemies the Hapsburgs and later the Germans. England also developed preeminent naval strength during the nineteenth century which kept her safe. The earlier forms of "low tech" dark ages city walls are common all over Europe and in the UK, and reflect a period of what must have amounted to social anarchy, in the absence of any police (other than the King's military forces, which were designed to counter major external threats, rather than maintain civil order. Hence towns walled themselves in and sometimes organized a corps of guards to protect themselves against the general lawlessness that pervaded the countryside. Bandits, the "terrorists" of the time roamed at large, and town warred with town. Perhaps a one world government isn't such a bad idea after all?

07/10/2004. Thu. Belfort. [France Compte region ]. Walk around Belfort's moats and castle. A picturesque area and would be of great interest to anyone who is a student of 17th century military architecture.

With the aid of a comprehensive listing from a French camping website we found an "Airs Gratuit" at Baume les Dames. This is a place where there is free water (which tastes bad here) and waste dump station, and where campers can park free. This was beside a canal and was fully occupied despite being a very poorly developed and unattractive site. Most of our listed SONPs are much nicer.

A very helpful Frenchman with a smattering of English, who was one of the campers, provided us with a few brochures and his recommendations on local sights. This led us on what really amounted to a minor wild goose chase into a picturesque valley where we found several varieties of mushrooms growing. Unfortunately we don't know which are edible. The supermarkets stock many varieties, in Carrefour Bescanon we saw twelve varieties of Mushrooms for sale.

I have now been able to add the GPS coordinates to the photos of SONPs using a program called Ozi- Photo-Tool. It uses the embedded EXIF data in a photo taken with a digital camera and the track file recorded by the GPS as we drive along to determine the precise location a photo was taken by comparing the photo time with the GPS track points times. As you obviously have to stop for at least a few seconds to take a photo, as long as the camera clock and the computer clock are synchronized you get the exact position of the campervan when the photo is taken, which can be automatically watermarked into the photo, or even appended into the EXIF information using an additional piece of software.

08/10/2004. Fri. Grosbois Rest Area, N89. This is the best roadside rest area so far encountered in France. Well shaded, with separate parking for trucks and cars and campers, toilets and fresh water (but no hose tap).

Our LPG ran out, took 20 L to fill at 0.60 a liter. We had no problem using the French-Italian filler adopter to connect the bowser to our LPG tank. Prices for LPG vary a lot in Europe, we have seen it for €0.35 in Holland.

We stopped at the Carrefore in Besancon, one of the biggest hypermarkets we have come across with a truly encyclopedic variety of cheeses to choose from. Bescanon is another fortified town with yet another bastion designed by military architect Vouban in the early eighteenth century.

Drove on to Dijon found it too big to be drivable easily and as the Carrefour carpark closed at 9PM we didn't stay but decided to head further south towards Beaune. We need to pace our meandering to arrive back in Calais on November 1st for our return to the UK on Nov. 2nd.

09/10/2004. Sat. XXX [S of Dijon] The N74 road is rather noisy at night and this SONP is closer to the road than we like. [a typical one "X" SONP, as rated in the waypoint descriptions, with one to three "X"s, indicating a low level of appeal.]

When meandering this way without any knowledge of what SONPs lie ahead, one sometimes has to accept a place like this, or travel on much later than is desirable. Often one finds a much more desirable stopping place only a few kilometers down the road the next day, such is life.

Called into village of Morteuil for a baguette and rode along the canal at Cliagny to Rully for about three hours.

 

 

10/10/2004. Sun. Varennes. Thunder storms in the night led to a warm sunny day as we headed south along D906 towards one of the French national parks.

It is worth noting that almost all shops and petrol stations in France are closed on Sunday. Fuel is only available from automatic pumps that take credit cards, and at a very few usually discount outlets "Jet" and "Elf" brands along major roads.

We followed the instructions on a French website to another Aires Gratuit at Lapalisse and found it, although the GPS position given was 150 meters out, suggesting that there may be a map datum problem with the GPS readings quoted on the website, as we found several similar magnitude errors on others we have located. Parking in a town carpark was free and there was a dump station and WC, but for water they wanted €3.50 coin in the slot, so we didn't fill there.

I have copied all the listings from this website into my computer as web archive files so I can refer to them at any time. They are categorized by the administrative "departments" of France, so you also need a map which shows the irregular departmental borders in order to know which "department" you are in.

Later in the day we found a hose tap at a Carrefour fuel station at Thiers that was unmanned and only serving customers with the automatic pumps.

The photos of SONPs are mostly those we stopped overnight at. There are many other good SONPS, often much better ones listed in the GPS waypoint file you can download. The waypoints are in OziExplorer format, but can be converted to any other waypoint formats using programs such as GPS-Babel available freely on the Internet.

Apart from the GPS location the waypoints contain comments with details of the facilities if any at each SONP, such as tables, bins (rubbish), shade, WC, dump point, water. For the more recently observed ones we have noted the type of tap, threaded hose or non hose type. We also give a X code to indicate the overall aesthetic quality of the SONP (our rough opinion, and sometimes only noted as we drive by on the highway) One X is just acceptable to stop at, XXX is a nice place to stop with good facilities and usually well off the road.

We use an RV symbol for most, and a pine tree symbol for SONPS that have a forest or park like setting. Three XXX SONPs are also colored Yellow so they show up on the maps without having to hover the cursor over the waypoint to read the comments field.

If you convert tie waypoints from OziExplorer to other formats the comments and symbols may be lost, but you will still have the correct GPS location.

 

11/10/2004. Mon. Montiex.

From Ambert south the D906 is well provided with SONP's in the form of rest areas and picnic spots as far south as Saint Puilien.

The chateau at Polignac can be seen from the road and there are some good views coming in to Le-Puy-en-Velay.

Along the scenic D590 West of Le-Puy-en-Velay the way is almost devoid of SONP's except for some old road loops west of Saint Jean de Nay, and one near Le Pouix there are no good stopping places until you reach Saint Flour.

 

 

Le Puy-en-Velay, panorama.

12/10/2004. Tue. St. Flour.

After seeing numerous SONPS all day when the time came to stop none were to be had and we drove on and on to St. Flour. The town provides a free campervan parking area with water for €2.00. Five vans parked along with us.

There is another free parking area in the high town, also with dump and water for € 2.00, and the tourist office provides free maps of the town and a brochure on the area in English.

A walk up to the high town filled in the morning and then a visit to the supermarket. This one had a by now familiar stale odor that we have noticed in a number of smaller supermarkets in France. Probably the result of poor cleaning as quite a few of the smaller ones look grubby and smell as soon as you walk through the door. You never find this in the bigger and newer Carrefour or E. Leclerc supermarkets.

In the afternoon we followed one of the self guided walking tours in the brochure from the tourist office. Another example of a town desperately trying to make a tourist attraction out of any tiny shred of historical inconsequentia. The overall setting of St. Flour and the old town generally are interesting with some good photo points, but beyond that in our opinion the details pointed out in the tour are of no interest.

13/10/2004. Wed. St. Flour. We spent the night in the high town parking area, quiet at night but busses arrive in the morning and there is a lot of activity during the day, so the lower town parking area is actually more relaxed.

We have decided to begin heading north towards Calais for our return to England.

The roads are generally in excellent condition, many appearing to have recently been widened and resurfaced. There is a very noticeable improvement in minor roads in France since our tour in 2000 when we found many of the D roads to be very narrow and often in poor condition. It isn't just in this area, the improvement has been noticeable all over France where we have travelled this trip.

We diverted from the main D979 road near Marguerites to look at the gorges of the Dordogne River along D20 D120 but were disappointed that we couldn't see anything, all obscured by trees.

Today a minor disaster when I hit the Fiamma Annex on the side of the van against the overhanging roof of a fuel station payment booth at a supermarket. Driving close to the booth so Sharon could reach the payment window the low roof projected over the road and caught the annex. Although the body of the van isn't damaged the annex is completely broken and will need new parts at least, if not replacement on return to the UK.

14/10/2004. Thu. Lignareix D982.

 

A lot of the fuel booths at French supermarkets are very badly designed, too low and overhanging the road. It was only a very low speed hit but broke the end of the annex and forced the roller back also breaking the rear end and winding mechanism. We have had to tie it up with four pieces of cord to stop it opening in transit. Hopefully I can find a Fiamma dealer and get it fixed quickly on return to England. I'm not even going to try here in France. We haven't needed it at all at this time of year, more rain than sun.

Great difficulty finding a SONP, none along D913 all the way from St.Vaury to Argenton-s-Cruese. We eventually found one at St. Gautier but drove on and eventually we returned after a 60Km wild goose chase looking for something better. The general rule is confirmed again that the majority of minor roads have generally very few stopping places. There can be exceptions and you will sometimes find a D road with plenty of rest areas. They are often clustered along a particular stretch of road, then nothing for miles. Even the older N roads can be provided only with narrow parking bays adjacent to the traffic lanes and not at all suitable for SONPs.

15/10/2004. Fri. St.Gautier. Rain all night, but a brighter morning. We drove to Tours. Found the first LIDL for many days at Loches and an ALDI at Tours. A pair of walking shoes for €13.99 ND blouse for Sharon €7.99 at LILD.

We have started a register of the wines we buy so as to know what we like and where it came from. Today we bought a couple of bottles of a Bordeaux at Carrefour for €1.25 that we liked, and a new Corberies wine at LIDL for €1.19. We will take home 6 bottles and leave some in the van to tide us over in the UK, where wine is much dearer. The cheapest wine in the UK is a Spanish "La Comeda" for £1.79 at ASDA, quite an OK wine by Australian standards, but it isn't as nice as the ones you can buy here in France for under €1.00, particularly at ALDI, who have the best bargains. Still the French are being induced to pay 5, 10, even 20 times the price for wine. It simply makes no sense except if you accept my theory that wine is priced for FOOLS! A marginal improvement in flavour can NOT be worth a 1000% increase in price, unless the customer has been convinced by advertising or snob hype to behave like an idiot and pay ten times what a product is really worth. And the same goes for beer.

16/10/2004. Sat. St.Etinne-de-Chigny, [N152 West of Tours.] From Tours as far as St.Etinne-de-Chigny there is no good access to river, a fairly general problem with rivers in Europe. Driving a little further along the Loire River we came to a number of rest areas that were far better than where we had stopped the night. We of course didn't know of them, now you do, if you download the waypoint file.

Some rest areas along this section of the Loire have a WC with water available from either an outside tap or tap in a hand basin, though none have threaded hose taps.

There are numerous points where a sealed road leads over the levee bank to unmade tracks along the river banks, used mainly by fisherman. Some are suitable for small campervans to find a SONP with views of the river, but access is not good along the river as the tracks beyond the short sealed entry are rough and can get muddy, and care should be exercised to inspect the surface before driving off the sealed section.

Although there are some bicycle lanes painted along the roads in some sections, they are narrow and dangerous and there are no proper cycle paths along the roads or along the river, so this is not a good area for cycling, despite its scenic appeal.

We drove as far west as Les Rosiers-sur-Loir before heading north on the D59 heading to LeMans and on to Normandy.

We discovered an excellent SONP in a rest area at Clefs on D938 between Bauge and La Fleche SW of LeMans. It had free water, toilets and dump point, on a quiet road.

SONP at Clefs.

17/10/2004. Sun. Clefs. After a quiet night and yet another bottle of fine but very inexpensive French red wine, that would have cost no more than €1.30, some patè and baguette, amongst a few other French delicacies, we departed late in the morning to La Fleche and via N23 to Le Mans.

The old walled city of Le Mans is worth a visit, and there are several large parking areas outside the city walls, near the Southern gate. We arrived about midday and everything was closed on Sunday after the morning market, so you need to get there early. There is a magnificent cathedral and numerous interesting old buildings dating from the 16th century.

We would have stayed in the carpark outside the wall of Le Mans overnight but there was some major event or festival on the following week and all the carparks were being closed to traffic the next morning, so after exploring the city on foot, and with everything closed, we moved on to La Bazoge a few kilometers north of LeMans and stopped in a rest area on N138

This was a very well appointed rest area, but unfortunately was rather noisy as the N138 is beside a busy toll road, and although the N138 is itself quiet at night the traffic on the motorway doesn't stop.

This was an interesting experience because there was a small food stall, selling among other things Fritties (Belgian style chips) run by a man who we found was a Romanian immigrant. We bought some fritties and while waiting for them to cook he produced a coin collection and tried to strike up a a conversation with us which proceeded in an awkward mixture of English French and German, whatever we could use to understand each other, as we don't speak much French or German, and he spoke little English. He asked if we had any Australian coins that he could buy from us and after returning to the van we found a couple of small coins to give him.

He had been in France for some years and had bought his own house in a nearby town, but much of the time had to sleep at his foot stall because of so many problems with break ins at night mainly perpetrated by Gypsies. It seems that Gypsies are still notorious in Europe and the UK for petty crime and are consequently generally disliked. He was very proud of being a house owner and showed us a picture, Really a very humble abode and not at all pleasing to the eye, but no doubt being from Romania this was a great achievement for him, and to him it was his Castle. We returned with several small coins of negligible value that we found in the van and gave them too him, for which he offered payment, but we said it was a small thing and refused, so he insisted on providing us with a complimentary coffee at his food stall, and we continued our interesting conversation while we drank it with him and his wife and son.

18/10/2004. Mon. La Bazoge. After a not so quiet night due to the motorway traffic nearby we proceeded on along N138 to Alencon. to find the Aldi shop closed for lunch from 1215 to 1400. Most larger supermarkets in France do not close for lunch, but Aldi and LIDL do in the smaller towns in particular. Another supermarket yielded some excellent Gannard Mousse, a type of patè (I wonder if that pronunciation mark is the right one? in any case it is pronounced "pat-ay" ) which we very much enjoyed. Served with some whole grain mustard and salad items like tomato and lettuce.

The French supermarkets, particularly the larger ones, such as LeClerc, Continente, Auchan etc, have vast delicatessen departments with a huge range of pate and terrine type dishes which you can buy by the slice, and serve with a crisp French bread of one of the innumerable varieties, not least being the ubiquitous baguette or bread stick which costs as little as €0.35 in the big supermarkets up to €0.75 in a small village boulangerie. Patè costs €5.00 for the specials in a supermarket to up to €15 per Kilo for the most exotic, or overpriced varieties. We found any amount for under €8.00, for fresh from the deli, and there are also excellent pre packaged varieties in the display fridges, as well as an extensive range of canned patè that is very handy to have on hand and very cheap to buy. It comes on small cans just enough for two to enjoy with a baguette.

We checked our usage of LPG when we filled up today and found we had used 12 Liters since the last fill, 10 days ago. The cost €0.54 per Liter. Our cylinder holds about 20 Liters, so we will fill it up about once every two weeks.

We find that we have plenty of time left before we need to be back in Calais and so decide to explore the coast of Normandy where the Allied landings took place during WWII. As you may know if you have read some of our earlier tour reports, I am primarily interested in the background causes of war, rather than the "mechanics of war", but having explored some of the WW1 battle sites of the Somme during our tour in the year 2000, and found that helpful background to achieving a wider appreciation of the subject, I felt that seeing some of the WWII landing sites would be instructive too.

This part of France is undulating farmland. Lunch traditional Baguette 67C, more body than the cheaper 37C. Whole grain mustard hotter than the delicate palate of the English pissant is accustomed to. Pork sausage.

19/10/2004. Tue. Malbrouck. N138. We stopped overnight at a rest area at a roundabout near the junction of N13 and N138 at Malbrouck south of Brionne,

 

Normandy - Site of WWII allied invasion force landings.

20/10/2004. Wed. Oustreham. Normandy. Good riverside SONP, on the peninsular between the two rivers. The beaches are overbuilt, crowded and generally the pits. After a pleasant night beside the river we set out on our tour of the coast of Normandy.

Along the Normandy coast in 1944 was the greatest amphibious troop landing of all time. It marked a major turning point in WWII. Now in 2004 there is renewed activity, a veritable orgy of war monument building has erupted along the Normandy coast to commemorate and glorify these now 60 year old battles. Why is it so?

New Pegasus Bridge center, New Juno Beach memorial to Canadian involvement, opened June 2003, admission €6.50, and there are other NEW memorials to WWII, and the postcards all have the same theme, "welcome to our liberators". At Point du Hoc there is a new visitor center, huge carparks and landscaping. If it were only around Normandy or only in France, this epidemic of war memorial building might be seen as propaganda directed at the recalcitrant French for not adequately toeing the line on the new American policy or "preemptive war" and the "Policy for a New American Century", an American think tank document (available on the Internet) outlining plans for 50 years of low level war, to cement American imperial global hegemony.

But it isn't just France, it is in the UK and Australia too that this rash of "remembrance" has broken out.

This is a global public relations campaign to convince the peasants that war is good, and to maintain the propaganda illusion that the two world wars were wars of "good" versus "evil".

In stark contrast to the new war memorials to allied victories is the remains of the German gun battery at Longues Sur Mer. The old gun positions are relatively intact with the 155mm guns still in place. There is a small signboard giving the history of the allied assault on the position, but there is no new memorial visitors center, no manicured lawns, or vast car park, and few tourists find their way here.

 

 

 

Hidden on deepest chamber, in the German observation post of the gun battery at Longues Sur Mer, where few would venture to see it, was this tiny home made memorial to the German soldiers who had also fallen, fighting for what they believed in. A laminated sheet of A4 paper with a simple message in memory of the fallen German soldiers. (Scroll cursor over photo [left] to see the clifftop observation bunker where this little memorial was in September 2004)

Almost afraid to show it's face to the light of day, for the victor is all powerful and whatever the truth of the conflict, now only one side speaks. Nay, not only speaks, but thunders forth its omnipotence, and glorifies itself in yet another new memorial, another immaculately manicured cemetery of botanical excess, symbolic of the excess that is America.

For the guns of Longues Sur Mer their rusting neglect is a monument to how painful it is to be the vanquished.

Amongst it all, the rash, the veritable epidemic, of new memorials all over the last couple of years, screams of propaganda. The French people have opposed war in Iraq, have embraced Farenheight 911, (a book explaining the events of 9/11 in a startling new way), haven't toed the NWO line well enough, so their thinking must be altered to understand that America is their friend, their liberator. At The Canadian "museum" [admission €6.50, get stuffed - You expect me yo PAY to be brainwashed!!!] the noticeably dominant theme of the postcards for sale was of the "liberating" WWII troops being embraced by French children. Mainly depicted in old sepia toned prints. Clearly the message is that war is about "LIBERATION".

At Pointe de Hoc a brand new piece of propaganda theater is being presented to French school children by the bus load. An almost totally destroyed German gun position captured by American Ranger troops in the early stages of the Normandy assault is a striking contrast to the neglect of the substantially still intact Longues Sur Mer gun battery.

At Pointe du Hoc, [left] there are only craters, and one shattered bunker, the German guns were utterly destroyed by allied bombs. Contrast this with the almost intact gun positions at Longues Sur Mer pictured above. Perhaps it is better propaganda to depict the emery as utterly crushed by the allied onslaught? Whatever the reason, they come to Pointe du Hoc in busloads, while few find the far more interesting site at Longues Sur Mer.

When we visited I witnessed a French school teacher (FOOL teacher) leading 8 year olds in American GI marching chants as they explore the few shattered remains of the German artillery position at Pointe du Hoc. Childen are gleefully ascending the brand new stairs to the top of the one remaining bunker, and war is made a game for them.

 

 

 

 

The surrounding area is all planted out with new trees and massive carparks, bus parks and campervan parks. Even the roads leading in have been similarly landscaped in an orgy of botanical excess that screams America. For no one exceeds like Americans.

I wonder how few of the visitors stop to think beyond the mechanics of war, which is what is presented to them, to the CAUSES of war. Very few I imagine, for they continue to believe the propaganda the those naughty Germans and "that madman Hitler", alone, caused all this, that the allies were blameless goodies, fighting for truth and justice. What simplistic crap, what lies, what utter propaganda. For the sheeple know nothing of the real causes and the driving force of both world wars, the state of All Judea, to whom the allies were the catspaws of revenge on a wayward Germany.

The American War Cemetery. Botanic magnificence for the victors dead, for the vanquished - only a sheet of A4 paper laminated in plastic and hidden deep in an old bunker.

Just as very few of the visitors to Longues Sur Mer battery ever penetrate the depths of the observation post bunker to find the little German memorial, not one person in a hundred has ever studied "real history" beyond the propaganda that is thrust in front of them about war. They see the diagrams of the Normandy landings on the wall of the American memorial, with their broad thrusting arrows representing the movements of various army units, the mechanics of war is thrust under the noses of the quietly reverent masses, passively receptive to it all, in their pilgrimage of ignorance. They think they have been enlightened, but they have only been told the most simplistic, the most superficial trivia of war. Never are they offered the opportunely to question the real causes.

They must only remember. And they must remember only that which the propaganda masters want them to know, the mechanics of war. Not for the common man to question the cause, to question the wisdom, to question the morality. The only morality ever mentioned is a self justification of the Allied cause and a relentless condemnation of the other side. No counter view, no balanced presentation of the other sides view, no rational analysis of the intrigues of politics and the struggle for world power. It was simply all Hitler's fault - end of story! What bullshit!

What MUST NOT be remembered is this. WWII was actually declared on March 24th 1933!

War is not about freedom and liberation, war is about money and power.

The war cemetery is a uniquely 20th century phenomenon. There are no such places commemorating the various other battles of European history, only WW1 and WW2. There are a few monuments to the war of 1870-71 with the Germans, Prussians, in the UK there is the occasional small marker to one of the many battles pertinent to English history, but in relation to no other conflicts is there this sort of grandiose propaganda present to such a degree.

One purpose, is to foster an ongoing willingness for young men and women to take up arms at the behest of their leaders, by creating an aura of honour and glory about dying in war, and thus about war itself. Also to concentrate the minds of the masses on the "mechanics" of war, and never to question, "Why is it so?" For should the real causes of WW1 and its planned continuation in WWII ever become widely known, the hidden power structures of the world would be shaken to their foundations. How long will it go on? Will people care in another 100 years. Should there be a war cemetery for those who fell at the battle of Hastings in 1,066? Surely that had as much effect on [British] history as the two WW's?

The ultimate reason for the unique phenomenon of the 20th Century war cemetery is, that the real reasons for WWI and WWII must continue to be hidden by propaganda, and for this the illusion that these two world wars were fought as a battle of GOOD against EVIL, for FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY, is vital to the hidden powers who continue to control the world. If the truth ever becomes widely known to the masses of common people, the sheeple, there will be a global revolution.

To start to understand what this is about click here.

21/10/2004. Thu. D514 Vierville-s-Mer.I imagine campervans stop overnight at the large new parking area at Pointe du Hoc, but we had already spotted a suitable quiet place in D514 and spent the night there undisturbed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

22/10/2004. Fri. Bourg-Achard.

A small park in the middle of town where there was another campervan provided a quiet SONP. There was actually a hose tap on the back of the small toilet block to facilitate easily filling the water tank.

Hose taps are such a valuable resource that I have started to mark them as GPS waypoints in the Wildcamp Waypoint file that can be downloaded from this site. Many water sources don't have the convenience of a hose tap and you have to resort to filling containers and transferring the water into the van's water tank with a funnel. Not a real problem, but a hose tap is just much easier.

We headed for the coast on D490, D131, N15, to Yerville D142 to Veules-les-Roses and then along the coast on D68 and D 75. There is an excellent SONP at the Lighthouse at Phare de Ailly, down a minor road left off D75 just east of Ste.Marguerite-s-Mer, quiet SONPs. Shade, tables, bins, and some walks along a less despoiled piece of coastline as here the coast is less developed than southern Normandy.

23/10/2004. Sat. Dieppe. Heading North East along the coast we stopped overnight at a large shopping center in Dieppe, where there were several large supermarkets and sundry shops. We stayed in the carpark of the Brico Depot, which is a large hardware store like a B&Q in the UK or Bunnings in Australia, because it was the quietest part of the parking area. Such large modern shopping areas are common all over France and can provide a very convenient place to stop close to a town. Very similar to staying at a Walmart in the USA, or at an ASDA hypermarket in the UK.

These French beach resorts are not to us very attractive, simply because we are Australian and beach we have in abundance at home, and of vastly superior quality, less developed, warmer and more natural. Such is the case with all all European beaches, and we are following the coastal route mainly because it is the easiest way back to Calais, where we have to get the car ferry back to England. To the International tourist they have of course the usual appeal of French towns, food, culture and architecture, but unless you come from Siberia I wouldn't recommend any European beach resort. They become the most crowded areas particularly during the summer, and you will genrally find more interest and less crowded conditions inland away from the coast.

At Le Treport, another seaside town further north we found an excellent "Aire Municipal" for campervans where you can stay for a small fee and there is free water (Hose TAP!) and dump station. It is in the waypoint file.

24/10/2004. Sun. le Hourdle.

On the southern headland of the Baie de Somme on D102 about 1 Km W of le Hourdel lighthouse we found an excellent SONP where a considerable number of campervans spent the weekend. The wide sandy beach has a large tidal range and the sea recedes for miles at low tide. There were signs of height barriers being either errected, dismantled or used seasonally, it wasn't clear which applied, so the parking area may nor always be accessible.

All along the coast of Normandy the Germans had begun to build WWII fortifications, but the defenses were not completed in time before the allied landings. Opposite the parking area near le Hourdel there a huge concrete blockhouse that has been undermined by the sea and had fallen from the sand dunes onto the beach. The scale of it can be seen from the people in the foreground.

It was a pleasent quiet (when they weren't shooting at birds) place to spend a couple of nights, wander along the beach, clean the van, and enjoy even more nice French wine, cheese and paté.

25/10/2004. Mon. le Hourdle. How desperate Europeans must be for some "wildness" can be gauged from the fact that people actually come here with shotguns and try to shoot tiny birds on the wing. I can't imagine that they would be a satisfactory meal. Mighty hunters and very small birds.

Heading North we came to Le Torquet-Paris-Palge another larger and very popular beach resort town. We drove around and used the GPS to locate several "Aires Camping Car" that I had obtained details of from a French website and to verify their position. One near the racecourse has water (hose taps) and dump points free, and at either you can stay for a minimal fee.

We have found that the GPS positions given for some "Aires de Camping Car" on the French website are not all accurate, and a few don't seem to exist at all, possibly due to map datum problems when their geographic positions were originally marked. Hence in the waypoint file we indicate the few we have verified with a [V] in the title and the title box is green, if you use OziExplorer to display them on a computer mapping system.

There are numerous SONPS indicated in the waypoint file which we observed in passing and noted brief details of as an indication of their amenity for overnight stops and roughly classified them as one two or three X (star). These are generally, with few exceptions, not mentioned in this text.

26/10/2004. Tue. Mont d'Hubert [near Calais] A good SONP about 10 Kms south of Calais on the D 940 is the parking area on the road up to the WW1 monument to the Dover Patrol on the high headland near Mont d'Hubert.

Eight campervans spent the night and there may have been more at the top carpark near the monument , but it was too windy for us there.

More German WW2 fortifications scattered over the cliftop and Mont d'Hubert, which is still expensively cratered from aerial bombing and shelling.

Wine from Aldi. Waited for ferry until 21.30. Parked in layby, noisy, and then moved to St.Margaret's at Cliffe.

27/10/2004. Wed. Dover. After arriving in Dover on the ferry at about midnight we went to a SONP we had located before leaving for Europe. We had expected it to be quieter than it was and although there was little traffic in the dead of night to disturb us, from about 5AM the road became very busy, so we won't use it again and instead will go to a more secluded location we have found not far from Dover. It was so noisy we didn't even stay for breakfast, but decided to explore a SONP we had found in 2000 at St.Margarets bay, not too far from Dover. Here we found a delightful area for breakfast overlooking the sea where there are toilets (locked at night) and water. Parking is free except for weekends and bank holidays in the summer season from May to September.

We needed to have our Fiamma awning repaired, following the minor accident it suffered in France, and eventually after some phone calls were directed to a campervan dealer near Whitstable, who sold us the parts and spent half an hour for free to install them for a total cost of £12.31, at Barrons Motor caravan Center, whom I can't commend too highly. I still need another end cap to replace the broken one, and they didn't have it in stock, but the awning is back in place and working and I'll repair the other end next trip after i get the part specially ordered in by Camping International in Gillingham.

It was all fixed so quickly and easily that we found we had a few days spare that we had allowed in case it was a problem to get repairs done. So first stop was nearby Whitstable and our favorite deli and bakery for some Cornish pastie,s and then we decided to park overnight at Swalecliff where we had begun our journey.

28/10/2004. Thu. Swalecliffe. Like many UK towns Whitstable has very inadequate parking so we rode into town on our bikes and left the camper at Swaleclife. We did a tour of the charity shops, as we like to leave a selection of suitable clothing in the campervan so we don't have to bring everything with us from Australia every time we come. So we have picked up jeans, warm shirts, jackets etc for usually no more than a pound or two, and Whitstable has a fairly good assortment of charity shops for a small town. Then of course more Cornish pasties for lunch. With this and the cycle riding and doing some work cleaning and changing the oil on the campervan (without making any mess) the day was over so we settled down to another nice French red wine and a home cooked dinner.

29/10/2004. Fri. Swalecliffe. We still had some days left and decided to explore along the Royal Military Canal in southern Kent to see if there are nice cycling and walking areas and good SONPS. We have found some delightful places along canals in Wales and in the midlands and hoped this would be the same. What a disappointment! The Royal Military Canal in all the sectors we explored has poor access, no nice parking areas, no developed paths along it for walking, cycling or any other form of recreation and was the most unappealing canal in the UK by an order of magnitude.

So after for driving all afternoon using our GPS and 1:50,000 Landranger maps to explore every possible access point to the can for miles along it, we despaired of finding anywhere to stop for the night that was at all nice, and decided to return to St.Margarets Bay near Dover.

30/10/2004. Sat. St. Margaret's Bay. This small bay at the foot of the White Cliffs of Dover is an excellent SONP, free parking except weekends and holidays from May to September.

There are pleasent walking trails around the cliffs and throught the village including the Frontier Britain trail.

There is another SONP on the cliftop at the monument to the Dover Patrol.

 

 

 

 

 

31/10/2004. Sun. St. Margaret's Bay. The view from the clifftop walk.We spent the day on the pleasent "Frontier Britian" trail and had a picnic lunch at the lighthouse.

Even here, along the trails and on the explanatory signs, there is propaganda about the feared W.W.II German invasion, and the preparations therefore. In fact a more detailed understanding of history reveals that there were no German plans to invade Britain, that Hitler made several attempts to reach a peace settlement that were all ignored by Churchill. Included is the Rudolph Hess affair where Hitler's deputy Furher flew to Scotland and was imprisoned by Churchill, and was gaoled for life in Spandau prison, where he died many years after the war, so that he could never reveal the purpose of his flight to Scotland. For Churchill, and his Zionist backers wanted nothing but total unconditional victory over Germany.

Even the Dunkirk evacuation points clearly to the fact that the Germans did not want war with Britain, for the totally defeated British army was allowed to escape when the German military was ordered to stand off, clear of the retreating and defeated British, and allow an evacuation across the English Channel. Details of this are revealed in historical research by David Irving, but the official history itself leaves one unable to reach any other sensible conclusion.

Bad mistake on Hitler's part, if he had pressed on and captured the entire British expeditionary force, Churchill may have been forced to negotiate an early end to the war.

The Yuan as a future global reserve currency, or Jews with a tiger by the tail?

The BBC has some interesting articles. Today they are speculating on the changes underway in the fate of the US$ as the worlds reserve currency and the potential of the Euro and the Chinese Yuan to progressively, perhaps sequentially assume the role of global reserve currency.

It raises a number of interesting questions. The USA is the worlds largest debtor nation, a position it has been able to achieve largely because the US$ has been the reserve currency since WWII and has thus been the currency in which oil is traded. But things are changing, the Euro is in the rise, both in value against the US$ and in terms of status as more nations are holding it as a reserve currency, even trading oil in it.

There is a theory that the center of the worlds wealth will also usually be the center of world Jewry, and that it was with the movement of Jews from Europe to New York in the nineteenth century which preceded the rise of New York as the worlds financial center, and the rise of the US$ to its position as global reserve currency, surplanting the British Pound. But the US economy is in decline, millions live in poverty and great wealth in the US is highly concentrated among a very small minority, manufacturing has declined and been moved offshore, and the size of the economies of Europe and China are growing rapidly to the point where they will on present trends eclipse the USA.

Will the Jews desert America for Europe again over the coming century? An interesting question, but not at all impossible as Europe is already firmly under Jewish influence, and is a rising star of the global economy. It isn't difficult to foresee a wave of Jewish migration from New York to Europe if the US economy falters seriously in the coming years. If this should happen, some would argue as to which was cause and which was effect.

But what of China? Here too is a rising star, with arguably more potential than Europe to become the economic dominant of the world. Will China then wish to assume the mantle of the worlds reserve currency? And who would call the shots? Are China's ambitions to remain restrained by its Communist government, which of you know your real history, you may realize is in all probability a puppet regime for the worlds global ruling capitalist elite, of whom the elite New York Jews are a highly significant portion.

If the Chinese Communists are in fact proxies for the global capitalist elite, whose job it is to keep the 1,000 million Chinese peasants in a kind of prison nation, as cheap labor for the global capitalists, and does this theory not fit the situation, what follows? Beyond the occasional whimper of protest, for cosmetic purposes, America does not rail against the lack of "democracy" in China, does not bewail the lack of human rights in China, as it does in the case of other nations it seeks to subdue. One is led to the conclusion that the "Communist" leaders of China are doing exactly what is required of them by their ultimate masters. If the Chinese leaders are but the catspaws of capitalism, how long can they keep the lid on the aspirations of the Chinese people?

China is a nation of immense pride and tradition, that was at one time a leading nation of the old world, and continues to see itself as aspiring to regain its rightful place in the world. The Chinese are wily at business, value education and hold to their traditions and one wonders how long they will be content to be subjected by a leadership, particularly if those "communist" leaders are in fact the agents of foreign capitalists. If China awakens I find it difficult to conceive that they would be willing to accept being subordinate in the financial sense to a foreign minority in the way that America is subordinate to its wealthy Jewish minority.

China is already the manufacturing powerhouse of the world, and with increasing technological sophistication will become more and more important to the global economy. The scene is set for an immerse conflict if China really awakens and succeeds in throwing off the yoke of its puppet communist leaders. A conflict between the Chinese as a truly free people and the global financial elite, who are in large part Jewish would be a struggle of titans.

It seems to me unlikely that Jews would be able to directly infiltrate and gain extensive influence in China in the way that they have done in America, or in the various countries of Europe. It is interesting to contrast the "communist" revolution in Russia, where the majority of the revolutionaries and commissars were Jews, many from America, with the Chinese situation where all of the leaders of Mao's revolution were ethnic Chinese. Even if the Communist takeover of China was orchestrated by the same forces that orchestrated the communist takeover of Russia, the critical difference is that in China all the visible participants were Chinese.

There is evidence now emerging in historical research by revisionist historians that MaoTse Tung was aided and Chang Kai Chek thwarted by American intrigues, even though to the outside world America officially supported the Nationalist Chinese and opposed the Communists. But the real history of American (by nominally American Jewish internationalist elements in New York) financing and support for the Communist (in reality Jewish) revolution in Russia in 1917, suggests that despite the "official" policy of supporting the Nationalists, the reality could have easily been the reverse. This supports the arguments of several revisionist scholars that Chinese Communism, like its Russian counterpart before it, is really a front for the hidden barons of International Capitalism and banking, who are mainly Jewish.

The Chinese had not been exposed to extensive contact with Jews and would have been more wary of any overtly foreign faces in the leadership, hence the visible Chinese Communists were all ethnic Chineese. So I feel that even if China became the preeminent economy and the Yuan the reserve currency of the world, that Jews would not migrate in large numbers to China, and assume a direct dominance of elite areas of society as they have done in Europe at various times and in the USA at present.

If the Jews are unable to do so directly, can they in some other way dominate the economy of China in the way they have traditionally done in western societies? Clearly at present the answer is a resounding yes, they are doing so, because the present "communist" Chinese leaders are as much subservient to the New World Order as are the leaders of the so called western "democracies". The only real question is was this the plan from the very inception of Mao's revolution, or has some more recent accomodation been reached?

I find I am reduced to an almost excessive use of quotation marks when using such often overused political terms as "democracy" and "freedom", for they have become code words which in the manner of Orwell's 1984 have had their real meanings reversed, and in fact the word democracy has come to stand for a form of flexible dictatorship by the elected puppets of the ruling global elite, where the only democratic element is the ability to participate in the charade of free elections, where the issues and the outcome are decided by the propaganda media influencing an increasingly ill informed and dumbed down electorate.

So I suppose it depends on whether there can be a genuine awakening in China. One fact gives me hope that there could be and it relates to a fundamental cultural difference that I have read of, relating to the position in society of actors and entertainers in traditional Chinese society. Actors, and their modern day descendants "media personalities" were traditionally regarded as part of the lowest strata of society, below other strata such as tradesmen , and below the peasants. That is not to say that they were reviled, nor not accorded some personal societal worth, nor that their arts and performances were not seen as worthwhile endeavors, but in traditional society they were never considered as desirable role models or idolized in the way in which such persons have been in western societies. I first read this in an old history text published around 1910, so if the observation has any substance then it is not due to the modern mass media having greatly elevated the "actor" to a pedestal in the western mind, but perhaps reflects a more fundamental difference in the oriental versus western system of fundamental values.

I was immediately impressed that the Chinese must have their feet more firmly on the ground than the woolly headed proletarian populace (the sheeple or Goyim) of western societies, who have, through this historically noted predisposition, been further manipulated to idolize and commensurably reimburse such persons as Hollywood movie, TV and sports "stars". Whilst many such people have undeniable talent as entertainers, and notable skills in their areas of expertise, their elevation to the pinnacle of idolization and income levels, Royalty with a use by date, in the west, is a peculiar perversion of western value systems.

The plan to achieve this state of affairs is spelled out in The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, published about 1,897, of disputed authorship, but a plan which has been followed almost to the letter in the "west" throughout the twentieth century. So who exactly wrote it, the main controversy surrounding it, matters not one iota, it has been implemented, so many of the events and social trends of the twentieth century were clearly planned, not accidental.

I am able to enjoy their talents of "actors" etc, but never idolize them, appreciating the work of a great actress, or sports star, in the way that I might admire the fine craftsmanship of a stone mason or a carpenter. But the media has elevated them, for the modern media not only portrays genuine artistic talent but these days also creates them and by elevating its own creations to the highest level of public esteem, enhances its ability to mold and influence the views of the masses, and thus to control the political agenda in the superficially "democratic" western democracies. For by having "media personalities" occupy the highest strata of society in the collective mind of the common heard, the influence of the media is also put on a similar supreme level. Who owns and controls the vast majority of global media organizations, and most of Hollywood, I bet you can't guess?

Given the traditional Chinese view of the "actor" as one to be enjoyed, but not valued or applauded even as highly as a skilled artisan, would this make "media control" of an awakened "democratic" China more difficult than it has been in the west? You can be sure that I am not alone in the understanding of this difference in fundamental values, and that the forces of the NWO are already hard at work to change it before there is any even timid experiment with "democracy" in China. But if this racial or cultural difference is significant would the Chinese be as easily influenced as their western counterparts, and what if the Chinese awaken, through greater exposure to the world, education, the Internet and travel, before their political masters are ready, would the NWO then have the proverbial tiger by the tail?

Would the "awakened" Chinese be no different to the Goyim of the west, and behave like and allow themselves to be manipulated like cattle by the Jews. I have my doubts, as I have great respect for the toughness, intelligence and resourcefulness of the Chinese, and I doubt that they would be as foolish as the Goyim of western societies. It poses an interesting prospect, should the Chinese giant awaken.

I pose more questions than I give answers. Yes, but I am a student of real history, not a prophet!

1/11/2004. Mon. H's diner A2 near Canterbury. On the way back to London we stoppes at H's diner on the A2 motorway, where hearty but inexpensive meals are served, and the Cafe which is on an old service station site, on the Dover bound side, is very popular with British bikies.

Today I found a "news paper", The Mirror, one of London's masss circulation tabloids. Note I say found, because I no longer will waste money to buy a paper, for most are full of trash, sport, gossip, trivia, superstion, plain nonsense and adverts, to turn the peasants brains to mush. The same is true of tabloids back home in Australia, and in the USA. You may note I'm overworking those quotation marks again for "newspaper" for there is now often little news, and what there is of that much passes for propaganda at best. So now I get my News from the Internet, the greatest medium of free expression since the printing press.

I contrast these pitiful western papers with several I am familiar with from Asia, The Singapore Straits Times to which I subscribed for almost six years in the 1980's while living in Brunei, and The Bangkok Post which I enjoyed every day in 1993-94 where I also lived, in both cases working as a Telecommunications Engineer. Both of these then great papers were full of both local and world news, cultural and artistic articles, political analysis and comment, independent editorials, articles on science and technology. Unfortunately even in Asia the rot has set in and these papers are now far inferior to what they were when I was a reader, but they are still of a standard so far above the average western tabloid, that one can only despair at the mindset of the sheeple who patronize papers like the Mirror or the Sun.

If you can judge the state of the sheeple by the papers they choose to read, then truly many of the British, Americans and Australians have been dumbed down to the level of semi literate beasts. Why is it so?

From the 12th Protocol Of the Learned Elders Of Zion.

FREE PRESS DESTROYED

7. We turn to the periodical press. We shall impose on it, as on all printed matter, stamp taxes per sheet and deposits of caution-money, and books of less than 30 sheets will pay double. We shall reckon them as pamphlets in order, on the one hand, to reduce the number of magazines, which are the worst form of printed poison, and, on the other, in order that this measure may force writers into such lengthy productions that they will be little read, especially as they will be costly. At the same time what we shall publish ourselves to influence mental development in the direction laid down for our profit will be cheap and will be read voraciously. The tax will bring vapid literary ambitions within bounds and the liability to penalties will make literary men dependent upon us. And if there should be any found who are desirous of writing against us, they will not find any person eager to print their productions in print the publisher or printer will have to apply to the authorities for permission to do so. Thus we shall know beforehand of all tricks preparing against us and shall nullify them by getting ahead with explanations on the subject treated of.

8. Literature and journalism are two of the most important educative forces, and therefore our government will become proprietor of the majority of the journals. This will neutralize the injurious influence of the privately-owned press and will put us in possession of a tremendous influence upon the public mind .... If we give permits for ten journals, we shall ourselves found thirty, and so on in the same proportion. This, however, must in no wise be suspected by the public. For which reason all journals published by us will be of the most opposite, in appearance, tendencies and opinions, thereby creating confidence in us and bringing over to us quite unsuspicious opponents, who will thus fall into our trap and be rendered harmless.

9. In the front rank will stand organs of an official character. They will always stand guard over our interests, and therefore their influence will be comparatively insignificant.

10. In the second rank will be the semi-official organs, whose part it will be to attack the tepid and indifferent.

11. In the third rank we shall set up our own, to all appearance, off position, which, in at least one of its organs, will present what looks like the very antipodes to us. Our real opponents at heart will accept this simulated opposition as their own and will show us their cards.

12. All our newspapers will be of all possible complexions -- aristocratic, republican, revolutionary, even anarchical -- for so long, of course, as the constitution exists .... Like the Indian idol "Vishnu" they will have a hundred hands, and every one of them will have a finger on any one of the public opinions as required. When a pulse quickens these hands will lead opinion in the direction of our aims, for an excited patient loses all power of judgment and easily yields to suggestion. Those fools who will think they are repeating the opinion of a newspaper of their own camp will be repeating our opinion or any opinion that seems desirable for us. In the vain belief that they are following the organ of their party they will, in fact, follow the flag which we hang out for them.

13. In order to direct our newspaper militia in this sense we must take special and minute care in organizing this matter. Under the title of central department of the press we shall institute literary gatherings at which our agents will without attracting attention issue the orders and watchwords of the day. By discussing and controverting, but always superficially, without touching the essence of the matter, our organs will carry on a sham fight fusillade with the official newspapers solely for the purpose of giving occasion for us to express ourselves more fully than could well be done from the outset in official announcements, whenever, of course, that is to our advantage.

14. THESE ATTACKS UPON US WILL ALSO SERVE ANOTHER PURPOSE, NAMELY, THAT OUR SUBJECTS WILL BE CONVINCED TO THE EXISTENCE OF FULL FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND SO GIVE OUR AGENTS AN OCCASION TO AFFIRM THAT ALL ORGANS WHICH OPPOSE US ARE EMPTY BABBLERS, since they are incapable of finding any substantial objections to our orders.

And if you are wondering what the hell all this is about, try this term in your Internet search Engine. "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion". If you don't know what these are, and you are prepared to research deeply, you are in for quite a surprise methinks.

02/11/2004. Tue. Tesco, Gillingham. Packing the packs, we are going home tomorrow.

"Prophesy - To observe that which has passed, and guess it will happen again." Elbert Hubbard American author and publisher [1859 - 1915]

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