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My Big OE

mars - mai 2017
  • Belinda Olds
Une aventure de 53 jours par Belinda En savoir plus
  • Belinda Olds
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  • 89empreintes
  • 53jours
  • 481photos
  • 162j’aime
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  • Belinda OldsVoyageurMy Big OE
    3

    Dinner with a French friend

    12 avril 2017, France ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    While Magali was not technically a friend when we met for dinner on my first night on Paris, she certainly was one after the evening was over. What a delightful person she is and such a lovely host. Magali had met and looked after Natalie when she was in Paris last Christmas (she is an old friend of Matt's mother). I contacted her and she made time in her busy life, running her graphic art business, to meet me one evening and have dinner. We met and discovered we were kindred spirits sharing a love of travel and seafood among other things!

    Magali took me on a walk through the sunset evening telling me the history of the area as we went. We visited a small local market and I watched as she joked with the seller of foie gras and we tasted his produce. Next we went to a restaurant that specialised in seafood and Magali and I proceeded to polish off the largest platter I have seen (actually a tower of seafood) with crab, oysters, prawns, clams, cockles and many other shellfish I had never tried before. It was all devine and two bottles of wine and much conversation later we emerged as new friends. I look forward to catching up with her again when she next visits New Zealand.    En savoir plus

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  • Belinda OldsVoyageurMy Big OE

    Musee de l'Orangarie

    14 avril 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    There are so many museums in Paris to choose from, you have to be selective. I chose this smaller one because it housed impressionist paintings and in particular had two rooms of Claude Monet's Water Lillie paintings. I had seen some of them in New York and had had my first emotional reaction to art that I can remember. They did not disappoint and I found myself sighing and relaxing as I entered the first room. These paintings are enormous, covering metres of the rooms they are shown in. Traditionally they are in oval rooms with seats in the middle for you to sit and enjoy. Quiet is enforced and adds to the feeling of tranquility. The two rooms had quite different colors and moods.

    Downstairs there was a small collection of other painters work. I was surprised how many names I recognised given my rudimentary knowledge of such things. There was paintings by Picasso, Renoir, Mattisse, Cezanne, Rousseau, Soutine etc but the collection was small enough to not be overwhelming. Highly recommend it if you just want a taste of the art on offer in Paris.    En savoir plus

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  • Belinda OldsVoyageurMy Big OE

    Nights and sights

    14 avril 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    One of the delightful surprises for me on this trip is how safe it is for me to be out and about at night. In Paris many sights remain open quite late and families and tourists are enjoying the city at night as much as the day. This is a small sample of the photos I took in my evenings in Paris.En savoir plus

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  • Belinda OldsVoyageurMy Big OE

    Floating down the Seine

    14 avril 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Taking a cruise down the Seine is another of the many "must do" things on a Paris visit. I went at 7.30pm at night, hoping to catch the sunset. The river is filled with other boats all doing the same thing, rush hour on the Seine!

    The other thing you see all along the banks, is groups of friends and couples sharing food and wine as they sit on the banks. It was noticeable that their alcohol laws are very different from ours with some large groups partying around a pile of beer and wine.

    It is a great way to get a glimpse of many of the iconic buildings and also a sense of Paris culture. At one spot of the river there is three little stages where people come to dance the salsa.    En savoir plus

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  • Belinda OldsVoyageurMy Big OE

    Notre-Dame Cathedral

    16 avril 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Despite staying so close to the Notre-Dame Cathedral I had not yet been inside. So it was that I found myself doing it on Easter Sunday (I had checked it was still open to the public). There were some signs saying Mass would going on throughout the day and that visitors were allowed but needed to be quiet and no flash was allowed. As I walked around taking photos with the lovely rhythm of the Mass being sung in Latin and French by the priests and a group of Nuns, it felt a bit surreal (and a little disrespectful). I found myself shushing the groups of tourists ignoring the signs in multiple languages to be quiet. However my sympathy for the church waned a little when I came to the shop (inside the church) which was still open and selling. Obviously tourist business was trumping religious activity.

    The cathedral is truly stunning and the music and mass made the visit even more special. I had come to think of it as my special place after staying so close for the past five days.    En savoir plus

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  • Belinda OldsVoyageurMy Big OE

    Notre-Dame Tower

    16 avril 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    The visit to the Notre-Dame Tower is a climb of around 400 steps and only costs a few euros (or is included in the museum pass I bought). The downside, besides the stairs, is that they only let 20 people up every 10 minutes so only a small queue can mean a long wait. I waited for just over an hour and passed the time chatting with a lovely couple from Ottawa behind me. We tag teamed and went to the toilet and got coffee etc so it passed quite quickly.

    The climb was pretty hard with the steps getting steeper and narrower the higher we got. The first level saw sweeping views and the chance to get the classic shot of a gargoyle looking towards the Eiffel Tower. Tourists before me had ripped holes in the netting to allow easier picture taking. On this level you got to see inside the bell towers and admire the luckily inactive bells.

    The next climb was even narrower and not for the claustrophobic but led to the very top viewing area. The views were from this high point stunning. It was nice to be able to see all the parts of the cathedral from this angle. The climb down was almost as tough with the spiral downwards making you a little dizzy.    En savoir plus

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  • Belinda OldsVoyageurMy Big OE

    Sainte-Chapelle

    16 avril 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    I went to the lovely Sainte-Chapelle on Easter Sunday and after queuing for some time at Notre Dame, I was expecting to queue here but for some reason, after a short wait for security (something there is now at every place you visit), I skipped the only queue there was with my museum pass. The side room of the chapel you visit first was lovely but a little ruined by the ever prevalent souvenir shop!

    A short few steps and I was in the main Chapel. It was jaw dropping stuff with the most beautiful stained glass windows reaching up into the vast ceiling. The photos do not do it justice but give you the idea. At one stage the sun shone through them and their real beauty was revealed.

    The outside of the building is quite plain and it is nestled next to the justice building. The exit passed out by this building and the soldiers with their automatic rifles were a stark reminder of the need to protect such places.    En savoir plus

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  • Belinda OldsVoyageurMy Big OE

    Dinner at Chez Leveque

    16 avril 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    I had passed this eclectic little restaurant two doors from the lovely Hotel Esmeralda and looked at it curiously as it didn't look like much from the outside. I asked the hotel owner for a recommendation and this is where he said to go. Inside the restaurant was small with a vibrant atmosphere and the menu was blackboard style all in French. The friendly waitress translated for me but in the end I asked her to choose for me.

    My starter was a pork terrine on toast with melted goat cheese. It was delicious and the salad it sat on had a very nice dressing. Next was a perfectly cooked medium rare duck breast sitting on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes, also very good. The sauce was very tasty (I could hear Manu saying ahh the sauce) and I really enjoyed the meal.

    As I left the restaurant I used their bathroom and to my delight found it had a shelf of paint pots and brushes for you to paint your own tile! I spent far too long reading other people's and left without doing my own but I will try and visit again and leave my mark!    En savoir plus

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  • Belinda OldsVoyageurMy Big OE
    2

    The Eiffel Tower

    17 avril 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    The Eiffel Tower has to be the most iconic thing to visit in Paris and one of the things I prebooked to make sure I got a timed entry rather than waiting in queues. When I got there I was grateful for this forethought a couple of months ago as the lines to enter normally stretched and snaked for what seemed like miles.Timed entry even had a special security line and that was a first!

    The ride up in the elevators was fascinating, particularly when you consider the shear number of people and times they make the trip up and down. The free app you can download for audio had the actual numbers and made the visit much more ubeteresting. We stopped at the 2nd floor area and switched to the elevators that take you to the very top. The view from there was truly amazing and there was no time pressure so you could work your way around all the sides admiring the view.

    I then got the elevators back down to the 2nd floor area and took some more shots of the view. Actually almost better for photos as the top level is so high. Again there is no pressure to rush so I relaxed and did a little people watching as well. I must say I do not mind waiting for people to take photos but the length of time it takes for some is ridiculous. Not a quick shot but a performance while each shot is checked and either rejected or another pose chosen.

    I stopped briefly at the 1st floor to admire the restaurants and step on the glass floor there. It was then a short walk down the stairs to complete the visit (you could take the elevator).    En savoir plus

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  • Belinda OldsVoyageurMy Big OE
    1
    1

    Fields of flowers

    20 avril 2017, Pays-Bas ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    On our way to the Keukenhof gardens Shelley drove me to an area where flowers are grown commercially. We could just stop on the side of the road next to these vast fields of flowers and take photos. We also could enjoy the beautiful fragrance generated by millions of flowers. There were many varieties of flowers as well as the classic tulips. Some fields were all one colour and others looked like a striped blanket stretching for miles. A very special thing to see.En savoir plus

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