Links to our RV Travels and Information
We arrived in Paris at 11.45 on Sunday 16th
March, after 21 hours of flying, albeit a very smooth couple of flights with
Emirates a slight bump as we crossed the equator. The plane was over an hour late leaving
Melbourne, Australia, caused by the plane arriving late from the inward flight, they did
not make up any time on the flight to Dubai and so instead of having a couple
of hours to kill in the airport, we got to our connecting flight only 5 minutes
before boarding. one of our bags wasn't so lucky and missed the flight to
Paris, which caused a delay filling in forms to have the bag delivered the
following day. the apartment is small but clean and is all we need for the next
9 days.
It is early Spring in Europe and the trees are just starting to show their new leaves.
It is early Spring in Europe and the trees are just starting to show their new leaves.
We went for walk to keep ourselves awake
until a reasonable hour and survey the local area. Narrow streets with
restaurants of all persuasions dotted along, We are above a Japanese one, plus Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and a host of French
ones all within a 5 minute walk, as well as a selection of pubs, an Irish one
around the corner will undoubtedly be in full swing tomorrow, St Patrick’s
day. We picked up some basic
supplies before returning to the
apartment, had a problem finding milk, silly us, we were looking in the
fridges, why chill milk, it’s just on the shelves with the other goods.
We are one block from the walk along the
Seine, gee it was busy, with bustling pedestrians and cyclists. Lots of
activities going on in the parks, groups playing Bocce, and of course soccer is
everywhere, with kids, old and young, honing their skills with the ball. On the
wall along the Seine walk a section was set up with wall climbing pegs and
ropes and planks for the kids, didn’t go
high, but there was a steady stream of 6 to 10 yos working their way along the wall.
We had a day of double decker busing today.
Started off walking down to the Eiffel Tower at about 7.30 great, no tourists,
took a few photos and found the bus stop. We did three of the four routes of
the Hop On Hop Off bus. Paris is huge and a lot of fantastic buildings, we will
be flat out with our 7 days left, but we have a list and will tick them off and
what ever else falls into place so be it. We stumbled across a very old looking church
near the Notre Dame, it was open so we went in. It was the church of Saint
Severin, a guy who lived on the banks of the Seine in the 5th
century. A church was built over his
tomb in the 10th century, after a few modifications by 1520 it got
to the stage it is today. Its bell, cast in 1412 is the oldest in Paris. He must have something going for him, to be
remembered 500 years later.
We had to waste a day yesterday, the lost bag was to be delivered in the morning and we had to be there to take delivery, a truck pulled up outside at 6.30 so I got up and went down, no it was not for us so we sat around chomping at the bit, tried to ring them but no luck getting through, checked the internet and were advised that the bag was located and marked for delivery. Eventually we got a phone call at 3.30 to say that it would be delivered between 4 and 8, it arrived at 7 we were both fuming at loosing the day, but at least we got it.
Tomorrow is London, the Chunnel and London Eye. so it will be another big day.
We had to waste a day yesterday, the lost bag was to be delivered in the morning and we had to be there to take delivery, a truck pulled up outside at 6.30 so I got up and went down, no it was not for us so we sat around chomping at the bit, tried to ring them but no luck getting through, checked the internet and were advised that the bag was located and marked for delivery. Eventually we got a phone call at 3.30 to say that it would be delivered between 4 and 8, it arrived at 7 we were both fuming at loosing the day, but at least we got it.
Tomorrow is London, the Chunnel and London Eye. so it will be another big day.
Early start with a taxi to the Garde Norde
for the Eurostar, there we had to go through an airport style customs and
passport system, so by the time we had gone through all of that we were
technically in England already, while we were in the waiting room at Garde
Norde. Boarding the train was also akin to boarding a plane, as soon as the
previous Eurostar train had left the station gates were opened and we were
directed to our particular platform to board the train. There is a departure
every 30 minutes carriages and seats are all allocated, so there is no
confusion. The train departed right on time 9.04am. We were soon scuttling
through the French countryside towards Calais, thankful that we were not going
to be driving this way later in the motorhome, “Boring”. We guessed our speed at about 150km/hr,
surprised that there was no information given in the on board magazine. We upped our guess to about 180 after we tried
to compare our speed to that of trucks on the roads. We later found that it was actually 300km/hr
when it was at those cruising speeds.
The trip took 2.5 hours from Paris to
London. Pancras International station is at Kings Cross and we walked straight
onto a Hop On, Hop Off bus outside the station, which conveyed us to Covent
Garden to transfer to the main city route. There is an amazing likeness between
London and Paris in terms of the street layout and the vast number of historic
buildings dotted throughout. Of course there was a Cockney commentator on the
bus , which certainly added to the flavor. We crossed the river beside Big Ben
and alighted, heading for the London Eye, a short walk along the river
bank. If you are going to have one of
these things it needs to be on this scale or forget it. The ride lasted 30
minutes and was everything we could have hoped for, it was a clear day, the
weather was fine and sunny. We later went on with the rest of the Hop On , Hop
Off bus route, until the end on the route beside the Ritz hotel, where we chose
to get a cab back to Pancras to make sure we were on the 4.30 to Paris,
arriving back at the apartment at 8pm.
The Louvre Museum was one of the hot ticket
items for us in Paris, The buildings were incredible, as were the exhibits, we
spent 6 hours wandering the galleries, the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo, the collection
of Rubens paintings and the apartments of Napoleon III, were favorites. An
incredible number of marble sculptures, Egyptian artifacts were among the many
other items of interest.
We had a tour booked, which would have a
dinner Cruise on the Seine, a visit to The Eiffel Tower 2nd level
and then off to a show at the ”Moulin Rouge” . It was a great night, a bit
wearing after 6 hrs in the Louvre. The show was non stop dancing
and acts. 40 dancers were on stage at the opening and closing, all were
flipping between costume changes and performances throughout the show. Costumes
were spectacular, apart from the fact that there was very little left for the
imagination.
A visit to the Hotel des Invalides gave us the opportunity to see Napoleons
Tomb, which is directly beneath the magnificent golden dome, a prominent city
landmark. The Hotel was established by Napoleon to treat the wounded soldiers,
it apparently still serves that purpose. The Museum section has an extensive
array of body amour, many suits that were made for royalty and the nobles are
on display.
The Palais de
Versailles or Versailles Chateau, built
by Louis XIV in 1664, a must see in the Paris area, This is the palace that
King Ludwig III copied in Bavaria at Herrenchiemsee and also The Schonbrunn Palace built in
Vienna by the ruling Hapsburgs. Having seen both of those, one has to say that
the copies were more appealing than the original, particularly the interior
fitout.
The gardens at Versailles
are immense and include a Grand Canal, which in its heyday had 9 ships , one a
gunship brandishing 32 canon, gondolas and a felucca. Today there are rowboats
and kayaks for hire, the canal is also used for rowers with sculls. Being the
early stages of Spring many of the deciduous trees are just getting their
leaves and the outdoor marble statues are still covered with their winter
protection.
Back in Paris and we caught
up with the Notre Dame Cathedral, set on an island in the Seine River, a hugely
impressive Cathedral. Following the
visit we indulged in crepes in the shadow of Notre Dame, sort of the equivalent
to a Pork Pie at Harrods in London.
A block away is
Sainte-Chapelle, built in 1226 to house the relics of the Passion of Christ,
the most famous of which is “The Crown of Thorns” which was acquired in 1239
for a sum that exceeded the cost of building the Chapel itself.
These “Holy Relics” had been
in the possession of the Emperors of Constantinople since the 4th
century. I purchasing them Louis IX catapulted France and Paris to be the
second capital of Christianity.
The Chapel is also renowned
for its 15 huge stained glass windows, which from the inside appear to be the
walls of the building.
Sunday, by 9am we were at
the Basilica of Sacre Coeur, a magnificent huge church perched on the highest
hill on the outskirts of Paris, not garish as some are, but such a grand
structure. Unhappily we were obliged to leave our cameras stowed away whilst in
the church. A nearby town square was being set up by a group of
artists, some great stuff on offer, we were tempted, but the thought of getting it on and off
planes and carting it around for 3 months brought us to heel. The Arc de’Triomphe at the top of the Champs
Elysees was our next stop, then try to work out how to get to it, there are 12
streets coming into the round-a-bout that
is the Arc de’Triomphe. The encircling road is very wide and has no
traffic lanes marked, so it is the gamest of drivers who attempt the exercise.
I was told that insurance companies do not cover foreign drivers on it. A tunnel for spectators was the answer, we
just had to find it. The monument is currently undergoing some restoration
work, so there is a large section of it under wraps. From here we walked the entire Champs Elysees
down to the Concorde Square, all of the top fashion brands are represented
along the strip.
Concorde Square is marked
with a 23m high Egyptian Obelisk from a 3300y.o. Luxor temple. It was gifted to
France in 1833.
The Concorde square was the
site of 1119 executions during the French Revolution, including Louis XV and
Marie Antoinette. Ironically, almost
alongside this square is the tunnel which claimed the life of Diana, Princess
of Wales in the car crash.
A visit to the Petite Palace,
another magnificent building, now used as a museum. Opposite is the larger Grande Palace built in
1900 for the Universal Exhibition, it is unique in that it has a domed glass
roof, also another museum. Another on
our list was the Elysees palace, however the roads were heavy with the Gendarme
(police) as the President is out and about today and the palace was closed,
maybe he is residence.
For our last day in Paris,
we visited the Centre Georges Pompidou is a famous piece of modern
architecture, built in 1977, it was designed with the building virtually turned
inside out, with brightly coloured pipes displayed on the façade, escalators
and elevators are on the outside of the building, just along Rue du Renard is
Hotel de Ville, which is far from a hotel, it is in fact Paris’s City Hall
With a huge pleasant forecourt
complete with a Carousel, although in 1610 it was the site of some gruesome
executions.
To the South across the
Seine we visited the Pantheon, built as a church and dedicated to St Genevieve,
it was finished in 1790. The building
was intended to resemble the Pantheon in Rome, however with it’s huge dome it
more resembles St Pauls in London. The dome is currently under wraps for
restoration work. The building was deconsecrated and is now a public building,
and the resting place for some of France’s greats, such as Voltaire, Victor
Hugo and Louis Braille.
The internal of the building
has some thirty huge gothic pillars and the portico in the front a further
sixteen pillars.
Certainly a magnificent structure.
A couple of blocks to the
west, we stayed a while in the gardens
of the Palais du Luxembourg, now the site of the French Senate. The gardens
seem to be a popular lunch spot for the nearby University students.
Time to leave Paris and pick up the motor-home for our venture through Southern Europe
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