We left England by overnight ferry via Portsmouth Harbour. The ferry had tiny cabins with sleeping berths so our channel crossing was spent sleeping very comfortably. We landed at Le Havre and headed from there to Paris. Many people are unaware you can camp right in Paris at Camping de Paris. This campground is located right in Paris and has nice pitches , clean facilities, a restaurant and even a shuttle bus that takes you right to the nearest metro station from which you can access all the sites in Paris. https://www.campingparis.fr/ We saw most of the major sites during of first visit to Paris six years ago, including climbing the more than 400 stairs up the Eiffel tower. So this time we decided to visit the Arch of Triumph and climb up to the top for what is supposed to be the best view of the city. This time it was only 225 steps to the top so we got off easy. The views of Paris from the top are amazing! The next day we headed out to Versailles to see the palace. This palace was built primarily by the Louis 13th -16th. It represents both the rise and fall of the monarchy in France, and it is a bit hard to see the excessive wealth on display knowing that the people of France were starving while this was being built. When the peoples suffering came to a breaking point, this triggered the French Revolution. I happened to have some leftover cake in my travel bag, and so decided to eat my cake in the shadow of the palace. If you don’t understand the humour of this, then read a little French history. This is the famous hall of mirrors. I’m Not sure what King Louis would think of all us peasants traipsing through his palace. On our last day near Paris we traveled to Giverny to see The artist Monet’s house and gardens. This was my favourite place we visited. It was both humble and beautiful and you could feel a peaceful spirit in the atmosphere. It was such a contrast to the excess of Versailles. I’m in love with his vintage French kitchen! This is the pond where Monet painted his famous water lily paintings. Today’s Camping Key- Our Camp KitchenOn our last trip to Europe we did not pack any kitchen items except 4 expandable cups and 4 “Sporks” which are a combination spoon and fork in one, attached to a little butter knife. However at a certain point in our journey I ended up purchasing a tiny kettle, and a tiny pot that boiled water with a small fuel tablet. The entire set weighed less than a pound, but the disadvantage was that it took a whole fuel tablet to boil one cup of coffee. So it was not practical for a two month trip. For this trip I did a lot of research into stoves. There are some really ultralight stoves our there, but I was concerned about their sturdiness and how wide the flame would be under our pots. The overall winner for sturdiness, great reviews and excellent performance was the Primus Classic Camp Stove. We have been extremely happy with this stove. Together with our special heat exchanger kettle it boils 1.5 litres of water in about 2 minutes. The ring on the stove is wide enough that it does not burn our pots and it breaks down into a tiny storage bag that fits in our cooking pot. What you see in the photo here is our Primus stove: https://www.amazon.com/Primus-P-224383-Classic-Trail-Stove/dp/B000RHCOP0/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=Primus+trail+stove&qid=1564229205&s=gateway&sr=8-13 our Fire-Maple heat exchange kettle which has a special ring at the bottom to make it boil fast (it really works and comes in two sizes https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Maple-Portable-Exchanger-Ultralight-Cookware/dp/B078YTH73P/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=maple+fire+kettle&qid=1564229498&s=gateway&sr=8-1 Our ultralight insulated coffee mugs from MEC. https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5040-521/Infinity-Backpacker-Mug Our Piezo lighter for quickly lighting our stove by REI : https://www.rei.com/product/849683/msr-handheld-piezo-igniter And two ingenious tiny personal coffee baskets that you fill with coffee and simply stir in your cup for the equivalent of a pour over coffee. I don’t have a link for you to find them as I bought them at a local dollar store. I have in the past used nylon tillable tea-bags with drawstrings to accomplish the same idea. This is our stove broken down into parts and ready to store. The stand must be purchased separate from the stove and is a universal camp stove stand in stainless. They sell for about $10.00. Here is the stove, stand and piezo lighter now packed up into our travel pot. Our travel pot is stainless made by Swiss Alpine. The one litre size. We also carry a cutting board and knife, a tiny pair of silicone tongs, a folding spatula and an IKEA can opener which is small and light. We do sometimes bring a stainless frypan also by Swiss Alpine, but on this trip found it wasn’t being used much and so we shipped it home with some souvenirs. You can find cheaper and lighter pots at camping stores, but most serious hikers carry stainless because they don’t burn and are simply cleaned with a chainmail style scrubber. For our dinner plates we carry a couple of really light plastic plates from the dollar store, and we have replaced our “sporks” with ultralight camping cutlery. What is also pictured here is a stackable spice holder with pepper, salt and a few other seasonings. The last item I will tell you about from our camp kitchen is our tiny toaster from GSI which works beautifully and folds down completely plat into a tiny case. https://www.amazon.com/GSI-Outdoors-Glacier-Stainless-Toaster/dp/B001DHMKV6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=GSI+toaster&qid=1564231503&s=gateway&sr=8-1 In my next blog we will visit Amsterdam and I’ll show you our ingenious portable dishwashing set up.
1 Comment
Pat Mohr
7/28/2019 03:47:56 pm
Just read your Camp Kitchen blog. You guys are simply amazing! I just shake my head in wonderment! You are living just the best life! All glory to God! Safe journeys!
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Wendy Peter is the North American Director of Events for the Women on the Frontlines Organization.
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