Update

Well, after all the wonderful tripping around France, I've now been back at work three weeks and the year is flying. I've culled 1700 photos down to about 1100 and still working on the DVD, then comes the ibook for the coffee table.Two quilts to the quilter and other patchwork on the go. Life is great

Life is great, the sun is shining today and I have five lovely days off to look forward to - just like another holiday really.

It's never too late... to have the best years of your life

You're writing your own story,

You're in charge of the plot.

Make each chapter better than the last.

You're only limited by your imagination.

And your will.

You may not hit every target.

But you won't hit any if you don't shoot.

'It's never too late to be what you might have been'                 George Eliot

Paris part 1 Palace of Versailles

Gates to the Palace of Versailles

Paris in a Day

Sunday in Paris

Bright blue skies and sun -Wow! Paris here we come.

We set off on a self-walking tour of Montmarte but missed the first turn and ended up at Moulin Rouge before following the path through the cemetery and up to Place du Tertre. This very busy area is full of artists, all wanting to draw portraits, some were painting and all very keen to sell their work at highly inflated prices. Right around the square, people were having brunch and there was a sea of people meandering everywhere. The weather was perfect for walking and we continued around the corner to Sacré Coeur. This beautiful Cathedral had very long queues of tourists. Time for a few photos and a cuppa before heading off again. I managed to buy a couple of bags (not sure how I’ll get them home – but I will) There are guys selling of bags, very cheap models of Eiffel Towers in all sizes and many other souvenirs lining the steps and were very happy to barter a good price – I ended up with two bags for €23.

We returned to the hotel to drop off the bags and thermos and cups and then headed out again. This time to the Metro and on to Monceau. We walked through the beautiful gardens at Monceau before arriving at the Musee Nissim de Camondo. This wonderful museum was left to the French government by its owner, Moise de Camondo. This was a living mansion that Moise de Camondo inherited from his patents in 1910. Moise married and had two children but divorced after 5 years and had total custody of his two children, a daughter Beatrice and son Nissim (whom the museum is names after). This wonderful museum is just as it had been when Moise had lived there. He was obviously a very successful banker, very rich and in the end very lonely. He was a collector of 18th century objects d’art and furniture and the mansion is a testament to his collection. His son Nissim died in air combat in the First World War and his daughter Beatrice, son in law and two grandchildren died in 1943-44 in Auschwitz. Moise died in 1935 and left the mansion complete with collections to the Union Centrale des Arts Decoratifs. In his will he stipulated that the new museum should be named after his son. The museum was inaugurated in December 1936. This is the most amazing museum – wall tapestries and paintings adorn the walls in every room along with exquisite furnishings and grand clocks. The crockery collection alone would be worth thousands of dollars. Sadly, Moise was quite lonely and although his daughter, son in law and two grandchildren lived with him in the mansion for a few years, he never really recovered from the loss of his son Nissim. Moise died in 1935 at the age of 75.

 

This has been the most impressive museum we have seen so far for its beautiful collections and sense of reality. Thanks Geof for telling us about it because it is not in the tourist books nor in the books on Paris and things to do.

 

A short stop for lunch at 2.45pm then on the metro again, this time headed for the Arc de Triomphe. For the price of €9 each we had the pleasure of walking to the top of this grand monument – 290 stairs in a spiral staircase each way. I found this to be a challenging cardio – respiratory exercise, however once at the top, the views were spectacular all over Paris. We again experienced the excitement of the roundabout ‘free for all’ with traffic going in all directions. A grand view of the Champs Elysses and the Louve in the far distance down one direction and our first glimpse at the Eiffel Tower in another.

Back to the Metro and on to the Ile De La Cité and Notre Dame. What a magnificent sight and the forecourt was teaming with tourists and queues to get inside quite long. After a few photos we continued on over the bridge to Ile St Louis. We’d heard about the ice creams on this island but never dreamed there would be long queues just for ice cream. Neither of us like to queue for much so we decided no ice creams but the curiosity soon gave in and we joined the queue for 20 minutes at Berthillon Glacier. I have to confess that it probably wasn’t worth the wait nor the money – certainly not the best ice-cream I’ve ever had. We crossed the bridge and walked along the left bank and then back to the metro and off to Trocadero where we had a fabulous view of the Eiffel Tower. We had planned to go late in the day and waited until dark to see the tower lit up and in fact for about 10 minutes it even had flashing lights. A very spectacular sight and worth the extra effort.

 

We had left the hotel at 9am and returned 12 hours later, foot sore and very weary but pleased to have seen so much on day 1 in Paris. We’d made the most of the beautiful day.

 

There have been very few escalators on the lines we have been on and I think that we have travelled on about 6 different lines today. We would have climbed at least 1000 steps and that is not all the other steps we paced.

Monet's Home

Giverney - Monet's Garden

Friday 1st October - We awoke to beautiful, blue skies and were convinced that the weather was on the improve, so we dressed accordingly, Graham in shorts and myself in ¾ pants and short sleeve top. By the time we arrived at Giverny, the skies were very threatening and it was about 15° with a decent wind. So the coats went on again. We toured Monet’s House and garden and then the paintings in the museum by Maximilien Luce (a neo-Impressionist painter) This style shows many dot type paintings with colours not being mixed on the palate. A very interesting style of painting and Luce was a prolific painter.

Monet’s garden is obviously different all year round depending on the season and whilst it was very colourful, we both thought it would be a very different scene in springtime. The water garden is very beautiful and a great spot to relax and contemplate. I can understand why Monet painted so much in the water garden, lily pond area. It was very beautiful. Of course as all tours they end in the shop and there were many lovely things to buy, including paintings, mugs, calendars and much, much more. By the time we’d seen through the museum it was lunchtime and it was then it rained, very lightly, but wet just the same.

Photos of the very beautiful Monet's Garden in Autumn

SUnday 3rd October

On Saturday our first stop was the Palace of Versailles. This amazing building exudes opulence from the initial sights at the front gate. We waited in the queue for tickets for about an hour and couldn’t believe the number of visitors to the palace. We were later told that it was a quiet day. Sometimes the wait for tickets is 4 hours. As you can imagine, it is very difficult to see much and the crowds moved through each room shoulder to shoulder. We did get the story on the audio guide and surprisingly were able to take a few photos. Such opulence was evident and one can only imagine what the peasants outside the gates thought of it all. Once we were outside in the garden and courtyard, the crowds spread out a bit. We walked around a large part of the gardens but by no means did we do it all. Gardens were beautifully kept and the many water fountains were complete with statues. There was still evidence of recent rain with puddles all over the foor paths.

As we were about to leave after about 3 hours, the ticket queues seemed even bigger than they were at 10am. Glad we weren’t there at the height of the summer tourist season. Bus loads of people gathered together in the forecourt and guides did the best they could with the huge crowds.

We set the GPS for the airport as we needed to return the car. As there was no street address, it was very difficult to find our way but eventually we did manage to return the car around 4pm. The shuttle bus took us over to the train station, and then the fun began all over again! Due to work on the train line, no trains were running to Gare de Nord for the weekend. Instead we were taken by bus to another station, where we then headed to Gare de Nord- Paris. With three bags and two people, the challenge was huge especially with many sets of steps to climb. We were very fortunate to enlist the help of people passing who were willing to help with our luggage. Graham did a fabulous job with the luggage – it wasn’t an easy task by any means. Eventually we found our way to the metro station and walked through crowded streets, looking for our hotel. We booked in around 6pm and we were very relieved to find that we were expected as I’d made the booking in April. We’d heard stories on our travels that sometimes bookings were unknown when some were booking in! We were handed the key to our room 52 at Comfort Inn – Saint Pierre, 10 Rue de Clignancourt in Montmarte. Relieved of our luggage at last, and coffee for revival we were soon ready to hit the streets again. We quickly found a familiar street and walked up to the Sacre Coeur area. There were shops everywhere all selling the same souvenirs and numerous cafes and restaurants, large and small. After a quick dinner at an Italian restaurant, we headed back to the hotel and made plans for Sunday. Quite exhausted but ready for the last few days in Paris.