Paris

 

 

 

Paris! After an almost sleepless night on the bus and the ferry, Paris! It IS all it's cracked up to be.

Ooh la la!

 

The Eiffel Tower was the first order of business as far as the boys were concerned.

 

 

 

 

It's beautiful underneath, too. Lots of filigreed metal and curving lines.





We stayed in a lovely apartment in an area called Montmartre in the north part of the city. Very gritty, artsy, multicultural, and alive. To the left is a view of the courtyard from the apt. window.








But it doesn't really matter where  you stay in Paris because the Metro is so good and cheap. You can get pretty well anywhere quickly.




What else is great about Paris? The FOOD! Oh my, Parisians know how to eat well, live well. Every morning for breakfast we had fresh croissants or baquettes, topped with fresh brie or camembert. Yum. And below is just one of the delicious meals we had at a creperie in our neighbourhood.

 

And then there's the sightseeing. Everywhere you walk there is something beautiful to see, especially on the banks of the Seine, which flows through the heart of Paris.

 

 

 

 

Some things, like the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs d'Elysees, you pretty much have to see. It was worth it.

 

 

 

One of the most impressive features of Paris was the celebration or prioritizing of public spaces. So many public parks, wide boulevards and squares. There were many grand buildings and monuments, but the spaces themselves were grand....

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of kids' stuff at the parks as well.

 

 

 

 

Public trampolines!

 

The boys had fun playing tag around  and through these hedges with little tunnels inside them.

 

And of course, the art, oh my, the art everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 Speaking of "must see" we of course went to the Louvre, with it famous glass pyramid entrance. The line-up to get in was huge, but a sudden hailstorm caused the "wimps" to run for cover and helped the line move a lot faster.

 

The Louvre is HUGE -- there is far too much to see for one day. In fact, it's been calculated that it would take about 9 months of daily viewing to see everything in the museum. Here are just a couple of the famous iconic works we saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe the most ridiculous thing is the swarm of 'paparazzi' hovering in front of this famous (perhaps overrated) lady.

 

 

 

 

In some ways, the Pompidou Museum -- focused on Modern and Contemporary art -- is an even better experience.

 

 

Other amazing landmarks are Paris's churches. We walked uphill through Montmartre to Sacre Coeur, from which there is a spectacular view of Paris.

 

Later the same day, we went to Notre Dame, perhaps the world's most famous cathedral. We didn't see any hunchbacks, but we definitely saw exquisite stained glass and some scary-looking gargoyles.

Au revoir, Paris. Nous vous aimons. Jusqu'à la prochaine fois!

 

 



Half-Term Road Trip Part 3: Jane Austen and Canterbury

 

Our final UK destination was Canterbury, but, since we were driving through "Jane Austen Country" (Bath, Steventon, Winchester, etc.) we wanted to stop and visit Chawton, the little village just outside of Alton where she spent roughly the last decade of her life, revising and publishing her novels.

 

We've had no mishaps with the van so far. We can't get enough of the countryside; it's still green and gorgeous. Often the country roads are lined with trees that overhang the road on both sides, forming a kind of green tunnel. Lots of sheep, hay bales, hedgerows, and these pheasants. They are fairly large and easy to spot in newly mown fields. Beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chawton is a tiny little village, but a magnet for Jane Austen fans. Chawton Cottage, where Austen lived with her mother and sister, is nevertheless surprisingly untouristy and unpretentious. It doesn't feel like a stuffy museum; instead, you get up close and personal with the sparse remains from Austen's life -- furniture, fabrics, pictures, letters. It's almost heartbreaking in its littleness and modesty.

 



 

 

 

 

 

This is the small writing desk on which Austen is reputed to have written/revised Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. Wow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last stop in England, and jumping-off point for France, was Canterbury in Kent, the most southeast of all the counties. Canterbury is famous for various reasons, especially its great and ancient cathedral and the fact that it is home to the Archbishop, the highest office in the Church of England.

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We dropped off the van at Enterprise just in time and again with no mishaps. Since we had a late-night bus ride to Paris, we had to "kill time" in Canterbury. This was not a problem in this charming, still very medieval city. We had some delicious fish and chips, saw a Halloween-inflected performance of some of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and curled up by a fire in a charming pub of the same name.

 

 

 

Stay tuned for the last installment!