France, Paris

Well here we are in Paris again. We love Paris. We travelled up from Brittany by train yesterday, everything worked well. We got the car dropped off and caught the train to Paris, all without a hitch.Читать далее
Well here we are in Paris again. We love Paris. We travelled up from Brittany by train yesterday, everything worked well. We got the car dropped off and caught the train to Paris, all without a hitch. Had a bit of an explore last night around where we are staying in the Marais district and familiarised ourselves with the area then dinner at a lovely little restaurant in the Place de Vosges where we both had the duck. This morning we wandered over to the Musee Picasso for a look. We both discussed whether we had been there last trip but it turned out that we hadn't as it was closed for reno's last time. Great museum really enjoyed our visit. There was a major exhibition on his first wife Olga that was very interesting. We then went for a stroll up to Sacre Couer. We must be getting a bit tired as we took the funicular up and then went on one of those little tourist trains for a trip around Montmartre. Turned out that it was a good way to see Montmartre in the end. Headed back to the hotel to catch the time trial in the Tour de France. Time to head out for a drink and dinner .Читать далее
A big day today, the highlight of Roge's holiday. We've got tickets for the finish line at the Tour de France. We haven't actually picked up the tickets yet and Roge is getting just a little anxious. The guy who has the tickets hasn't contacted him yet but I'm pretty sure it'll work out....we have a few hours yet to go. We have wandered around the corner to a cafe for breakfast. I think this'll be our "go too" place for brekkie for the next 3 days as it's pretty good and not badly priced. We had forgotten how expensive Paris is. To kill a bit of time we walked to the "Conciergerie" a Royal Residence and prison dating from the 6th century but having had a number of additions along the way. This building is right by the river and a place we have walked past many times before and not noticed. I have to say it is one of the most interesting places we've visited in Paris, and not just because it's not all Louis XVI' lavishness. It was used as as a small prison during the time of the revolution. It's where Marie Antoinette came to have her head removed. In one small room there was a basket of hair and some shears - apparently prisoners had their hair cut so as not to impede the blade of the guillotine. You really can't begin to imagine how bad these places must have been. At last! We have a rendezvous to pick up the tickets! Yay! We'd had to jump on a train and head to Port Maillot quite a few stops away. We'll walk to the Champs Élysées from there. The security for this event became apparent pretty early on - 3 or 4 stations either side of the Champs Élysées were closed - our train expressed right through, luckily we didn't need to get off at any of them. We picked the tickets up without a hitch and made our way the finish line. It took us quite a while to find the way in to the restricted area - so many police, so many big guns. Once in we were in a pretty ritzy area with only two hundred people. Plenty of gorgeous food available all day and an open bar....cocktail at 6 was fantastic, best Mojitos!!! Could easily be my new summer drink. We had great spots right on the barrier and directly opposite a big screen and right on the finish and so close to all the action and excitement- perfect. It was an absolutely fantastic event. Check out the pic's!!!Читать далее
Our 2nd last day in Paris, in fact, our second last day of holidays. I feel as though it's time to start heading home. Some time ago I had been searching the 'net for lesser known and visited places around Paris. Fortunately I came across the Chateau Maintenon. It's located out of Paris so we caught a regional train to travel the hour it took us to get there. We're not early starters, so headed off about 10.30 as we had to get 2 different trains to get to Montparnasse station. The Chateau is easily walkable from the station and is located in the little village that goes by the same name.The Chateau's first structures were built in the 13th century and added in successive centuries, but it is particularly known for two things: it was the home of Louis XIV's governess of his illegitimate children, then she became his mistress and then his wife in a secret marriage. The second thing it is known for is the amazing aqueducts that were intended to bring water to the Palace of Versailles some 80k's away. The aqueducts look spectacular and construction started in 1685. However they were never completed as money began to dry up (did you see what I did there?). The Chateau commands an imposing view regardless from which ever direction you look - it still has a functioning moat and canals and the most amazing partere garden first designed in 1676 by the famous French landscape gardener Andre Le Notre (who also designed Versailles gardens). The inside is typical Chateau, incredibly interesting particularly some very old fabric painted wall papers that have been retained and restored. It has none of the over the top glitz of Versailles, which makes it more like a liveable home.we had lunch at a local cafe in the village, and got the train back. This is definitely one of the best Chateaux we have visited, absolutely loved it and the fact that there were only 6 other people there confirms my view that it's worth looking for the not so touristy attractions. We pretty much had the place to ourselves.Читать далее
Julie KoningsHard to believe it's almost over...going to miss my daily read. Know you can't remember who's who, but Diana beat Ben to win MKR last night.
Our last day. Damn. We've had a fantastic trip. Not ready to go home, and yet we are. Continuing the theme of finding little known places Roge found a museum a mere 5 k walk from us, near the Champs Élysées. The finest Parisian private art collection, so the brochure says. Husband and wife, Edouard Andre and Nelie Jacquemart travelled Europe in the late 1800's ( particularly Italy) collecting art and displaying it in their magnificent mansion. This mansion is now open to the public in its original state with all of the art work. They had the ceilings raised in some rooms to accomodate whole painted ceilings that they collected from Venice. The mansion has a fabulous staircase and winter garden (created with a glass roof) designed by the architect that was the
second choice for the design of the Grand Palais. It is said he got his revenge by designing a magnificent staircase in this mansion, and it is. This is one of the better museums we have been to, and, again hardly anyone there. An extraordinary thing happened while we were there. I was standing in front of a Rembrandt, fanning myself with the brochure as it was pretty stuffy, when the security guard walked behind me to fully open two huge windows to let in the breeze. No alarms, no barriers, just two walk through windows open into a room full of Rembrandt's, Van Dyk's and the like. Amazing. We finished off the visit with a coffee and cake in the restaurant. We had planned on visiting the Jewish part of Les Marais district which is where we re staying just so that we could have some fine middle eastern food. We had done this last time we were in Paris and were keen to do it again. Decided to walk off the cake, so another 5k's. We have bought so many umbrellas this trip. It seems every time we decide it's not going to rain and leave the umbrellas behind, it does. Today was no exception, despite the weather forecast saying no rain. We resisted and didn't buy another one. We got a little lost but found where we needed to be and had a great lunch. Wandered back to our place doing a little shopping long the way. I really could stay in Paris another week or so. There is so much more that we could do. This is the last blog entry. We catch our plan home tomorrow to endure another 27 hour flight. Until next time....Читать далее
Julie KoningsFood & jewellery with a museum thrown in...seems like a perfect last day!!
Lynne KingThank you so much for letting me travel with you through this blog. I've enjoyed all the sights and adventures so much.
ПутешественникGreat photos!
Lynne King
Amazing pic
Lynne KingWonderful.