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!



Road Trip Part 2: Bath and Stonehenge





 

Only a few miles from Bristol lies the extraordinary city of Bath. In a country full of spectacular architecture and rich historical sites, Bath is really special. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with gorgeous 18th and 19th c. stone architecture.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

The takes its name from the exquisite Roman baths which are the best-preserved natural hot-springs from Roman times (the Romans called it Aquae Sulis) and still a very popular spa. Actually there was much more to Aquae Sulis than just the baths, impressive as they are (there are sauna rooms and multiple pools of different temperatures, etc.). There was a temple, for example, and the excellent museum, much of it underground, displays and interprets Roman artefacts

 

 

 

I love when museums have exhibits that invite you to touch!

 

 

 

 

 

The Roman engineering that went into the construction of this place was incredible. The heating and drainage systems alone were ingenious.

 

 

 

There were some signs indicating that you should not touch this steaming, green-blue water, but how could we resist dipping in a finger? At the end of the tour, we were invited to taste the water, touted in by-gone days for its medicinal properties. The boys said it tasted like "warm, salty hot dog water".  

 

Next to the Roman baths is Bath Abbey, a beautiful gothic church with fluted columns and a lace-like sculptured ceiling.

 

  

 

  

And as if Bath wasn't amazing enough, later the same day we drove to Stonehenge north of Salisbury.  Stonehenge is around 5000 years old, a mystery in every respect -- why it was built, how it was constructed, etc. We've seen pictures of this stone circle all our lives, but it really is incredible to see it for yourself in person. Astonishing.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Just to prove that we were there!

  

 

  

 



 

 

 

A picture-perfect day.

Half-Term Road Trip Part 1: Bristol

Students in the UK get a "half-term break", a week off, at the end of October. This was a great opportunity to get out and explore England and further afield. The first stop would be Bristol, in the south.
Wanting to look in nooks and crannies, and see the countryside at a slower pace than the bus or train allows, we decided to rent a car. We requested a small car, and an automatic: it would be difficult enough to drive on the left side of the road on narrow cobblestoned streets without also shifting the gears in a standard with the opposite hand! Unfortunately when we got to the rental agency, the car they had designated for us was broken down and so the only other automatic was.... an 8 passenger van! Stress. We decided to try it out, and with one of us navigating (and making sure we're on the left side) and one driving, we set out. I dreamed about crashes and scratches all night.

 

 

At least the boys had room to spread out their games and snacks, and a seat between them if they argued!

 

 



 

 

The driving went well, once we got used to the many roundabouts where we often had to  make split-second decisions about which lane to be in. There's a fair amount of "assumed knowledge" in the signage -- you have to sort of know where you are going. But the countryside was stunning, especially from the roadway. Even in late fall, it's still quite green, though we saw some nice fall colours as well.

 



 

 

Our first destination was Bristol, a port city of about 400,000 on the southwest coast, near Wales. We'd heard some great things about Bristol from Chris Short, and we were not disappointed. It's home to the excellent Arnolfini art gallery.

Bristol is bursting with character and maritime charm. There are ancient, twisting passageways, like the Christmas Steps, that are reminiscent of the merchants, adventurers, and pirates of yesterday.

 There is also a nice Newfoundland connection; Bristol is home to the Matthew replica that sailed to Bonavista for the Cabot celebrations in 1997. We also learned that the Bristol dialect has similarities with Newfanese, like "Where is the museum to?"

At the same time, some of the architecture has a contemporary edge to it.

 

At the M-Shed, a museum about Bristol's history and present, we learned about some of the cool folk who were from here, many of whom, like the graffitti artist Banksy,  have been unconventional and progressive thinkers and activists.

 

The only downside of the visit was the pouring rain and the difficulty of getting on and off the M-5 motorway without ending up in Wales. Still, we had a grand first day.

 

Next stop, Bath.