Armed with a map aimed at combating the trouble I was having with getting my bearings we headed out for a wander. We had no plans to hit any of the tourist hot-spots that day - just to have a look around at the town. Again I quickly became disoriented. I can only think that it is the street layout. There are roads radiating out from several hubs, but there are several major roads that just sort of cut across the whole arrangement. This is combined with a network of back streets that never knew a planner.
Sorry to go on, but I very rarely have trouble finding my bearings and I don't like it.
So, there we were just checking out the local area when we stumbled across a bead shop. Fiona had been a bit disappointed, I think, with the bead shopping so far. There had been plans for a big buy up in Prague. The shops there had just never lived up to the promises. Here unexpectedly, was a real treasure trove of great value, good quality merchandise. I waited outside, and waited a bit longer. They tell me that time flies when you are having fun.
This serendipitous discovery set the agenda for the day. I don't believe that we are the first people to spend a day shopping in Paris. For us it is unusual.
We finished shopping and decided that we were close enough to Sainte Chapelle to go there. It is the most spectacular medieval church I have ever been to. Completed in 1248, it is comparatively small, but it has the most fabulous stained glass - you wonder how the roof stays up there is so much glass and so much colour. We had been gob-smacked in 2006 when we visited and simply had to see it again. We passed though security and joined the line for tickets before I realised that we simply did not have enough cash - plus it was close to closing time. We decided to return in the morning and not rush the visit.
Checking the map for the best way home, I was very pleased to find that the gods had smiled and that there was a bus that went from across the road to the end of our street. I prefer to travel by bus as you get to see the life of the city. When you go by metro, you get to your destination quickly, but have seen nothing.
Next day we returned to find a very long queue to get through security. The ticket queue was shorter. The wait was worth every minute. I have never seen a photograph that came close to capturing the brilliance.
Afterwards we went to Notre Dame which is close by. It is a very different experience. Impressive rather than beautiful.
Lunch in the park around the back then we climbed the hill to visit the Pantheon. It is a secular mausoleum
for distinguished French citizens. The Curies are there, as are Zola, Dumas and Hugo. There were many of whom I had never heard.
The central dome also has a working reproduction of Foucault's pendulum. Look it up.
Next day it was time to visit the Louvre. There was a wee bit of trouble on the Metro when we found out once aboard that the train did not stop at the point at which we needed to change lines. Four trains later we arrived. We had a tip that by using the entrance from the metro station you missed the huge queues which plague the pyramid entrance. They certainly lessened them.
What can I say about the Louvre that has not been said before. Overwhelming in its scale, we spent the whole day there (with an hour off for lunch to recharge the batteries) and barely scratched the surface. On a purely practical note, we found that at lunchtime we were away down one end of the building, and it took quite a bit of map reading and ingenuity to get to the cafeteria.
Next day was very different. We popped down the road a wee way to visit the Place des Vosges. A beautiful square completed in 1612 by Henry IV. Serene. The we went on a Seine River cruise - no thinking, just watch the world slide past. Next was a visit to the Eiffel Tower. We did not go up the tower as the crowds were horrendous, but we appreciated it from ground level.
Peculiar event of the day - we saw a girl dressed as a ballerina tied to a spinning post on top a a grand piano that was being "driven" through the park by a man pretending to play. Honest.
On Sunday we did a day-trip out to Chartres - about an hour out of Paris, mainly to see the gothic cathedral completed in 1271.
We arrived just as a mass started and we were hooked by the choir and organ. We stayed for the whole mass, even though it was all in French. I think I actually understood one whole sentence at one point, but mostly, I just let the music wash over me.
After the mass finished we followed the other tourists around the cathedral, and then walked around town. We took a tour on the mini-train, the first one we have ever done. It was not as bad as it could have been.
Monday was another shopping day. As we were heading home on Tuesday this was our last chance to buy souvenirs and gifts. There were more beads and I bought myself a beret.
Supermarket dinner in the park - baguette from our local boulangerie wonderful bread for about 85 Euro cents a metre.
On Tuesday, the plane did not leave until 3:30pm, and the airport train leaves from the Gare Du Nord, so we thought we might pop up to Montmartre for a quick visit. Great views from up at Sacre Coeur. It was well worth doing. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and hadn't spent the morning just waiting around.
The journey home was uneventful, but long. There was a 5 hour wait in Dubai, as the flight was re-scheduled due to runway works at Perth Airport.
My bag was the very last one onto the carousel and by the time the quarantine man had cut the pine cone seeds off Fiona's German geese everyone else had gone.
Then we were home.
Sorry to go on, but I very rarely have trouble finding my bearings and I don't like it.
So, there we were just checking out the local area when we stumbled across a bead shop. Fiona had been a bit disappointed, I think, with the bead shopping so far. There had been plans for a big buy up in Prague. The shops there had just never lived up to the promises. Here unexpectedly, was a real treasure trove of great value, good quality merchandise. I waited outside, and waited a bit longer. They tell me that time flies when you are having fun.
This serendipitous discovery set the agenda for the day. I don't believe that we are the first people to spend a day shopping in Paris. For us it is unusual.
We finished shopping and decided that we were close enough to Sainte Chapelle to go there. It is the most spectacular medieval church I have ever been to. Completed in 1248, it is comparatively small, but it has the most fabulous stained glass - you wonder how the roof stays up there is so much glass and so much colour. We had been gob-smacked in 2006 when we visited and simply had to see it again. We passed though security and joined the line for tickets before I realised that we simply did not have enough cash - plus it was close to closing time. We decided to return in the morning and not rush the visit.
Checking the map for the best way home, I was very pleased to find that the gods had smiled and that there was a bus that went from across the road to the end of our street. I prefer to travel by bus as you get to see the life of the city. When you go by metro, you get to your destination quickly, but have seen nothing.
Next day we returned to find a very long queue to get through security. The ticket queue was shorter. The wait was worth every minute. I have never seen a photograph that came close to capturing the brilliance.
Afterwards we went to Notre Dame which is close by. It is a very different experience. Impressive rather than beautiful.
Lunch in the park around the back then we climbed the hill to visit the Pantheon. It is a secular mausoleum
for distinguished French citizens. The Curies are there, as are Zola, Dumas and Hugo. There were many of whom I had never heard.
The central dome also has a working reproduction of Foucault's pendulum. Look it up.
Next day it was time to visit the Louvre. There was a wee bit of trouble on the Metro when we found out once aboard that the train did not stop at the point at which we needed to change lines. Four trains later we arrived. We had a tip that by using the entrance from the metro station you missed the huge queues which plague the pyramid entrance. They certainly lessened them.
What can I say about the Louvre that has not been said before. Overwhelming in its scale, we spent the whole day there (with an hour off for lunch to recharge the batteries) and barely scratched the surface. On a purely practical note, we found that at lunchtime we were away down one end of the building, and it took quite a bit of map reading and ingenuity to get to the cafeteria.
Next day was very different. We popped down the road a wee way to visit the Place des Vosges. A beautiful square completed in 1612 by Henry IV. Serene. The we went on a Seine River cruise - no thinking, just watch the world slide past. Next was a visit to the Eiffel Tower. We did not go up the tower as the crowds were horrendous, but we appreciated it from ground level.
Peculiar event of the day - we saw a girl dressed as a ballerina tied to a spinning post on top a a grand piano that was being "driven" through the park by a man pretending to play. Honest.
On Sunday we did a day-trip out to Chartres - about an hour out of Paris, mainly to see the gothic cathedral completed in 1271.
We arrived just as a mass started and we were hooked by the choir and organ. We stayed for the whole mass, even though it was all in French. I think I actually understood one whole sentence at one point, but mostly, I just let the music wash over me.
After the mass finished we followed the other tourists around the cathedral, and then walked around town. We took a tour on the mini-train, the first one we have ever done. It was not as bad as it could have been.
Monday was another shopping day. As we were heading home on Tuesday this was our last chance to buy souvenirs and gifts. There were more beads and I bought myself a beret.
Supermarket dinner in the park - baguette from our local boulangerie wonderful bread for about 85 Euro cents a metre.
On Tuesday, the plane did not leave until 3:30pm, and the airport train leaves from the Gare Du Nord, so we thought we might pop up to Montmartre for a quick visit. Great views from up at Sacre Coeur. It was well worth doing. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and hadn't spent the morning just waiting around.
The journey home was uneventful, but long. There was a 5 hour wait in Dubai, as the flight was re-scheduled due to runway works at Perth Airport.
My bag was the very last one onto the carousel and by the time the quarantine man had cut the pine cone seeds off Fiona's German geese everyone else had gone.
Then we were home.
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