France;Paris to England; Dover

Paris

Meg’s typing

After leaving Belgium we drove through the north of France heading for Paris.  After lunch we set off for destination number 2; Beauvais – what, where???  One of Elona’s ancestors originated from Beauvais, therefore it made it to the 'must see' list of places.  We passed the town of Somme – many may recognise the name from the Battle of Somme that occurred in WWI in 1916.  We passed the many memorials to allied soldiers who have since been found over the battlefield, the memorials were an impressive and sobering sight.

Unfortunately there are about 8 towns that are named Beauvais (something).  We visited the main town just north of Paris, had a quick drink and a couple of photos then we were on our way again.  Paris here we come.

We had timed it to arrive in Paris well and truly after peak hour traffic.  Luckily, whilst the traffic is no where near the chaos of Lima traversing the multi-laned (someone said 5-but felt like 10 lanes) roundabouts including the one around the Arc-de-Triomphe was challenging to say the least, and Ken TomTom Navman decided to stop feeding us directions whilst we were in the middle of Paris – but we made it safe and sound to the hotel, parked the car and settled in around 11pm – Big Day!!!

Once we had successfully worked out how to reference the tourist maps to the metro map we were set. (Just a tip – none of the 3 Notre Dame named metro stops actually take you to Notre Dame, you need to get off at St Michel). Our days in Paris were then spent visiting the Louvre and the Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower, a walk down the Champs Elysees, a visit to the Manet exhibition at the d’Orsay art gallery and just wandering the city and the Latin Quarter.  We decided to make the best of our location and decided crepes for breakfast was more than appropriate, other food highlights were the onion soup, mussels (for Elona), crème brulee and of course chocolate mouse.  See Photos

The 5 days we had to explore Paris flew by and before we knew it we were checking out of our little out of the way (just slightly on the wrong side of town) apartment and making our way to England.

Elona typing


Just an aside here and a little story to boot; our hotel was definitely still in zone 1 but absolutely positively on the wrong side of town...one night on our return from adventures in town we were about  50 metres from our hotel when right in front of the door a fight broke out and you wouldn't believe the amount of boys/men that came out of the woodwork to watch if not participate. We decided to sit it out and waited for the cafuffel (have no idea how to spell that word!!) to end. About ten minutes really when we decided that we could manage to get to the hotel door without getting in anyone's way. Dear oh dear - we did see the boy who was being bashed the next day - obviously a local - he was alive and well though a little bruised...I wonder what he did??!!

Can I just say never ever think that you may save time by getting a taxi – yes this seems to be the easier option when compared to public transport but when you walk out of the Hotel door and see wall to wall traffic and the hotel reception informs you there are no taxis available you start to think that maybe a back up plan may have been needed.

Thus us and our luggage walked down to the tram station – another ten minutes to work out which side of the tram station we needed to be on and what station we needed to get off. Now this may all seem easy to some of you folk but we had cleverly bought new day bags with wheels that DON’T have the backback option – not handy when you already have a bag with wheels – think about it…hhhhmmmmm many stairs one bag needs to be lifted up those stairs with boths hands and what pray tell do I do with the other one?!?! Okay not one of my cleverest ideas but hey with the help of Megs….poor Megs had a day bag in each hand and her backpack on her back while we struggled with the fifty million (slight exaggeration) stairs and change of stations that you do to get to the port in Paris!!!! We actually made it without TOO much hassle and even had a giggle or two along the way!! You have to laugh when you are travelling in morning business peak hour traffic and people have to climb over not only you but also your baggage to exit at their station!!!

Have to say at this point that nothing was as hard as dragging our luggage up the 7 levels of gangplanks on the ferry – OMG we were tired! Who knew ferries were that tall?!?! Yes yes I know that they have to hold not only cars but trucks as well but my god they were steep gangplanks!!

Once on the ferry we decided to do as all good people do on the way to Dover; we ate Cornish pasties and steak and kidney pie of course!!!! It was not a very long trip and we soon were gazing at the white cliffs of Dover and embarking on our United Kingdom adventure.

Getting our car was NO problems at all after a quick taxi ride to the Europcar place and low and behold we are on the correct (for us) side of the car and correct (again for us) side of the road – so what the hell was wrong with my brain and why was I finding it so difficult; why did I not just jump in and go “Oh that’s better that feels right!!!!” Bloody hell sometimes nothing’s easy – disappointing to say the least to still have to think about driving – should come naturally surely!!!!!!

Central fountain in Beauvais, France

Leaving Beauvais for Paris

Navigating the Paris Metro - Just missed one train - Oops!! And

no Notre Dame de Champs is not where Notre Dame is located - who knew??!!

Best crepe shop in the Latin Quarter; lots of butter and sugar.  

Great ham and cheese crepes as well.

The CitySightSeeing buses are a good way to see the major sights of the city and get your orientation.  This is the Obelisk at Place de la Concorde at the opposite end of the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. 

One of the parliamentary buildings situated at the end of the Champs Elysees, currently under renovation though we really admired their style in scaffolding; very very clever!!

Arc de Triomphe - much less stressful to drive on when you are not the one driving.

Eiffel Tower - The colour of the Tower is brown - to be more precise Eiffel Tower milk chocolate brown.  This is a little confusing as I thought the colour was an oxidised green colour and Elona having seen the Tower on an earlier trip to Paris was certain it was not brown at that time at all.  Miss Google help us out and informed us that they change the colour of the tower from time to time - who knew??!! That would be a bummer of job wouldn't it - you'd definitely want danger pay!!

There is a lot of gold to be seen on the monuments of Paris - all detailed pieces of art.

Even the statues that are not gold are intricate.  There are so many too see.

Egyptian inspired monument with sphinxes faces the 4 corners of the earth.  

One in particular looked particular menacing and it appeared to cry black tears.

On closer inspections we discovered that a local graffiti artist added his interpretation to the statue.

Emblems over the doorways of some place important - sorry cant remember the name of the building but it is located next to the main office the the CitySightSeeing Tours.

Megs outside Notre Dame

Entrance (or Exit) to Notre Dame.  This church was allowed to become run down in the late 1800's and was restored solely to the popularity of Victor Hugo's novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".

Notre Dame has seen many incarnations since its construction.  The site was original used for Pagan worship before being converted into a Gothic cathedral around mid 1100's for the Kings of Europe. The Catholic Church later laid claim to Notre Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris).

Magnificent stained glass windows.

Inside the church there is tributes to many influential families who have donated to the church.  There is also memorials to various battles and to the soldiers who were lost.

The Rose Window

The image of Mary in the centre of the roof above the alter.

Elona - looking thoughtful.

Central image of Mother and Child and interesting to note that she is not in the Flemish style.

Us outside Notre Dame

Arcs - entrance to the park outside the Louvre

Paris street scene in the Latin Quarter

Many cafes and restaurants 

HMMM  What will I have today???

Elona happy having chosen Mussels and Creme Brulee 

AMAZING Onion soup with a toasted slice of baguette with melted cheese.  OMG!!!!

Mussels - Elona is in heaven - believe it or not, I did try one - NOT too bad.

Weekend street markets - full of wonderful fresh food.

Best place to do your fruit and veggie shopping.

or meats and cheese shopping as well.

So much variety - notice the white asparagus!

Cruising down the Seine

The arch ways of the many bridges crossing the Seine. Cool Hey!

Elona and the Brown Eiffel Tower 

The two of us and the Eiffel tower - the requisite tourist photos.

There were a few artists along the Seine 

though most were selling prints rather than their original work.

Paris Traffic.  At the end of the road you can see the column style building.  This is the Eglise de la Madeleine (The Church named for Mary Magdalene).   The architecture is very similar to that of the Parthenon in Greece and was originally built for a public library until Napolean wanted to dedicate it to the memory of his army and the building was consecrated in 1842 (this may have been one of the major contributing factors for the Notre Dame to be neglected until Hugo's book was published in the late 1880's)

This monument is to ....... hey at this point in time I can't even remember if he was French or English or even someone from the US - Paris had a large variety from all 3 countries - Elona may have a better idea?? Yeah right; that's some dude in a really cool cape!! (Elona)

Big building with gold dome and spire 

Man on a horse - still unsure about the whole hoof thing - 

but this one should have died of natural causes - Maybe?!?

The Louvre

Some man in a skirt - always worth a photo!

What do Parisians do on a sunny Sunday summer afternoon???  They all head to the park and picnic or play frisbee.  Have to say the skill that these frisbee throwers were displaying was amazing and made it extremely difficult to get them and the frisbee in the same photo.

Common scene when the sun is out - people just out and about enjoying the city.

(Elona - this I actually do recognise - this is where Joan of Arc got shot by an arrow when

she was on the wall - that obviously is not there now...see i do remember some things!!)

Outside the Louvre (on the bus)

Megs and the Eiffel Tower - check 

This a one groovy shop we found called PYLONES - they can be found in the US and UK we have since found out - though this was our first adventure into the shop.

Native American Indian Band - very cool music - we now have a CD or 2.

What else would you expect at the base of the Eiffel Tour??

They did generate quite a crowd just outside the Eiffel Tower

Megs holding up the inverted pyramid with the help of a random passerby.

Inside the pyramid looking up.

This was a magnificent amalgamation of a historical sandstone pyramid with high tech representation of what we might have seen if we were to witness a day in the time the pyramid was built. Fascinating!!!!

Exhibit of many faces - photos of portraits and portrait photos! 

Elona can not resist a good bottom when she sees one - especially if they are rock hard.

Venus de Milo

Elona and  Mona

Elona gets sympathetic with Achilles 

Paris maybe considered the Fashion Capital of the World by some - but as you can see that does not mean it is good fashion.

Elona touching the top of the glass pyramid.

Sunday afternoon outside the Louvre - beautiful summer day!!

Street performer - yes he is juggling 3 bowling pins whilst balancing a live gold fish in a glass bowl on his head.

alive and swimming!!!

Sculpture of Cupid in the Louvre

Overlooking Winged Victory of Samothface and the famous steps that Audrey Hepburn ran down in the movie Funny Face with Fred Astaire.

We (Elona) have decided this is the French look - with my second pair of blue lens glasses because I lost the first pair.

Fois Gras - actually not bad!!!!!!! And some say pretty damn nice!!!!!

The White Cliffs of Dover

The White cliffs prompted a conversation about when the continents were still connected as the white chalky sand is very similar to the white sand that is everywhere in Paris.

Coffee and Pastie - Yumm

Steak and Kidney Pie was also on the menu on the ferry.