Category Archives: France

December 3, 2013 · 12:30 pm

More easy Paris sightseeing

7th July 2013

Place Charles de Gaulle, Paris

Off to the Arc de Triomphe today where I took half an hour to actually find how to get across to the monument. But see, there’s usually an upside to these little challenges; I got to see it from all sides, and I found a nice place for lunch. Somewhere around my circumnavigation I came across the steps going down to the underpass, and, wonder of wonders, emerged in the centre of this huge roundabout.

Ahha, I really was there

Nine euros and quite a few stairs later I was at the top of the Arc de Triomphe looking out over Paris. It’s pretty magical to see from this vantage point, with streets radiating out from every side. Of course the arch is more than just a great vantage point and the museum attached, tracing the building and history of the monument, is well worth the visit. Coming back down to earth again, I happened to be there for a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, so that was lovely too.

Josette received another boarder yesterday, a lovely Polish girl, Katarzyna, who is here to attend some art appreciation classes at the Louvre for a week!! How cool would that be, guided study tours and unlimited entry to the Louvre. Musical beds last night – Katarzyna now has the little single bedroom, I’ve been upgraded to Josette’s bedroom and Jo and friend now sleep upstairs in the living room on the futon.

We were treated to a wonderful, fun, noisy evening with some of Jo’s friends – even just one night good food, and great company can make such a difference to your enjoyment of a place. Looking forward to my second week of french lessons without the drama of being sick.

Arc de Triomphe, Paris

Paris building

Look, no wine with lunch!!

VERY VERY ordinary sketch of the Arc de Triomph

Stairs inside the Arc de Triomphe

From the top of Arc de Triomphe, Paris

Looing back up the stairs inside the Arc de Triomphe

Wreath laying at the Arc de Triomphe

Shame about the people inthe background, this old guy was just gorgeous!

Arc de Triomphe

Detail, Arc de Triomphe

Detail at Arc de Triomphe

Plaque of Rememberance, Arc de Triomphe, Paris

Museum at Arc de Triomphe

Detail, Arc de Triomphe

Another very ordinary Arc de Triomph sketch

Eiffel Tower

Unfinished

Looking down on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arc de Triomphe

Stamps I so, so wanted to buy – but I resisted!!

Self explanatory I’d say

Sunbakers far in the background – at Jardin des Tuileries

Josette at the head of the table, presiding over proceedings

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Filed under France, Mid-life travel, Solo female travel, Travel

Tagged as Arc de Triomphe, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

November 29, 2013 · 6:06 pm

Just two places in a whole day – leisurely sightseeing

6th – 7th July 2013

Well, I timed that right – feeling much better for a week-end full of exploring Paris!

The Louvre, Paris

And just because I could, I caught the metro again, but, guess what – the thrill is quickly wearing off, lol. Getting off at the Louvre though was still a tad exciting, not that I had planned on going inside, I was just happy to look around the outside. Somewhere in my travels I’d heard about the Batobus, a hop on hop off boat that stops near all the touristy places along the river. So, towards the river I headed and sure enough, there was one of the Batobus just waiting for me to buy a ticket and hop on board.

Ahha. there it is!

To make it even better, the next stop was the Eiffel Tower, just where I wanted to go. It’s a wonderful feeling, motoring along the Seine and seeing it come into view, getting larger and more impressive the closer you get, craning your neck back to get a better view. I wonder what it is about the Eiffel Tower that makes such a strong connection with people of all ages and backgrounds. I know it’s fascinated me for years, and some of the younger ones in my language classes have said they’d happily set up camp beneath the tower if they could.

Playing games in Paris

Being extra vigilant, because of all the warnings of pickpockets, I went with the flow up the stairs and across the street to just stand there and look. Wow, I was really here, at the Eiffel Tower, on my own too, so I could sit and look all day if I wanted to. Which is pretty much what I did for the next few hours, I drifted around the area looking from all directions. I sat and had a chocolate crepe across near the carousel, watched the people with the three cups and a little object hustling people for their money, was asked fifty times if I spoke English by girls trying to get me to sign something – think the green eyes and blonde hair might have been a give-away, but I just kept shaking my head and they eventually went away, sat on the grass behind the tower sketching and people watching, went down by the river for a wine and late lunch.

Musee d’Orsay, Paris

Deciding I’d best not set up camp just yet, I ‘batobused’ back to the Musee d’Orsay where I spent more hours happily strolling through what I’ve just learnt was once a railway station. Degas, Monet, Manet, Sisley and even the Whistler were some of my favourites I found, but really, there’s too many paintings and sculptures that intrigue me to remember even half of them. Even good old Charles Rennie Mackintosh was represented, and Gaudi too – whose work I’m so looking forward to seeing in Barcelona.

Sylvia’s lock, Paris

Not really having a plan, and feeling a tad foot-sore by now, I crossed the river via one of Paris’s bridges with all the locks attached, the Pont des Arts , I think, for a little wander along the other side before making my way back ‘home’. Oh, it was nice to arrive at the bar down the end of the street where Josette’s flat is, sit out the front with a cold glass of wine, a few peanuts and just relive my day. Even better was knowing I can do it all again tomorrow if I like – but maybe tomorrow I’ll go somewhere else!

The Seine, Paris

Bridges of the Seine, Paris

Another Paris bridge full of lovers locks

Lovers locks on Pont des Arts, Paris

Eiffel Tower Paris

Eiffel Tower

Carousel near the Eiffel Tower

Not sure how many I took, but I think – MANY….

But wait, there’s more

Former railway station – Musee d’Orsay, Paris

What a wonderful space – Musee d’Orsay, Paris

At the clockface inside Musee d’Orsay, Paris

Because you just need to check your phone all the time!!!

Looking through the clock at Musee d’Orsay, Paris

From the roof top balcony of Musee d’Orsay

Boats on the Seine, Paris

From Musee d’Orsay, looking towards Sacre Coeur, Paris

Notre Dame Paris from the river

Late afternoon at the Louvre

Tummy trouble – arghhhhh!

3rd – 5th July 2013

Warning, warning – discontent and upset approaching!!!

All I can say is you must have to be awfully sick to die. For the last few days I’ve felt like death warmed up and it’s been terribly hard work to keep going to school and do a little sightseeing. All I’ve felt like doing is curling up on the bed and sleeping – in between visits to the bathroom. I’m positive my sickness has been food related – and not food I’ve bought in the city either.

I think I’ve worked out a system though for not eating suspect food at my place of residence. If Josette is eating, I eat, if she’s only feeding it to me and has no intention of eating with me I don’t eat. And tell me, if you knew someone had been sick for three days would you try and give them bought frozen fish fingers for dinner? Bloody hell, I wouldn’t feed anyone frozen fish fingers at any time, let alone someone who is paying me board and is suffering in the tummy already. Thank goodness for Deb and the people in my own class at school, without them around I think I would have just sat in a corner and cried.

Courtyard of LSI Paris building

Okay – enough said, but I’ve spoken to the school and hopefully things will improve next week, because, who wants to be in Paris and only see the inside of every toilet you pass? And to top it all off, I’ve lost my coat in the last 3 days too – the one I bought in Brighton after I left my first one in a restaurant somewhere!!

Rocking up to a chemist and getting antibiotics over the counter from a pharmacist who claims not to speak English but then gives me the instructions in near perfect English was an experience worth remembering. I learnt that day that asking a French person if they speak English is just asking for trouble. Thank goodness I followed up with my really quite terrible French and was rewarded with smiles and helpfulness.

Fountain just donw the road

I headed back to the 12th straight after school one afternoon, to, I’m not sure what, maybe feel sorry for myself, explore my ‘hood or be close to the loo. I ended up doing all three, then bought myself a new light coat and sketched the fountain just down the road too – pretty good for feeling like c#%p. I just love the typical Paris apartment blocks, especially the ones with the tall grey rooflines, I seem to walk around with a permanent crick in my neck from always looking up.

I got my first glimpse of La Tour Eiffel from the Jardin des Tuileries one afternoon on our way to see the Musee de L’Orangerie. It just sort of crept up on us and all of a sudden I realized the spire I could see way way off in the distance couldn’t be anything else. Wow, what a moment, think this was when I finally believed I was in Paris!

My first view of the Eiffel Tower

Then to see the two rooms of Monet’s Water Lilies was just the icing on the cake.

Even before we got into the gallery I had another nice surprise. Deb and I were waiting in line when I saw a woman I recognised, but couldn’t remember for a little while where I knew her from. Then her family joined her and we all realised we’d sat together on the Eurostar last weekend. What’s the chances of running into them again at one of the lesser known galleries in Paris?

Claude Monet’s Nymphéas (Water Lilies) paintings were captivating – two large oval rooms with his gorgeous canvas panels lining the walls. We could, both of us, have sat for hours, I think, just looking at them. We stayed so long there that we didn’t see much of the rest of the gallery before closing time, but we both left happy that we’d had time to really sit and savour Monet.

Beautiful wrought iron work

So Parisienne!

Paris’s lovely apartment buildings

rue de Rivoli, Paris

Trying out a new brown pen

One of LSI Paris’s illustrious neighbours

Window shopping!

More doors – just can’t resist

Just around the corner from school

But wait there’s more!

Chillin in the Jardin des Tuileries

Fountain in the roundabout

Paris apartment living

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Filed under France, Mid-life travel, Solo female travel, Travel

Tagged as Claude Monet, Eiffel Tower, Musée de l'Orangerie

November 13, 2013 · 10:43 am

Starting to look around Paris

2nd July 2013

I’ve had so many ‘pinch me’ moments since I started this trip and my daily commute to school was right up there some days. Catching the yellow line of the Paris metro from my station of Reuilly-Diderot, going past places with names like Gare de Lyon, Bastille, Musee de Louvre, then emerging at Tuileries to the sight of a bank of typically French buildings on one side and the Jardin de Tuileries on the other was part of my dream come true. I know the metro is not exactly tourist fodder but the fact that it was my daily routine helped me feel I was actually living in Paris and not just visiting for a few days.

Hotel de Ville, Paris

The school organises outings most afternoons and on Tuesday we caught the metro en masse to the Hotel de Ville – or actually we tried to but ended up getting split into three groups with most of us not even knowing where we were heading. One group caught the metro and went straight there, another group, of course I had to be in this one, got spooked along the way because our guide, Robin, had gone missing so we got off a couple of stations along, and the last group, with our guide, were on the train, then got off again because someone was missing. Thank goodness we spent a few minutes trying to work out what to do and when the next train came along we spotted Robin inside so on we rushed and didn’t let him out of our sight again all afternoon!! I’m sure he was wondering why we were hanging so close, but at least we didn’t get lost.

Sitting among the wildflowers near Hotel de Ville

The area in front of the Hotel de Ville was full of little gardens of wild flowers and sun loungers, part of some special exhibition and so unexpected in the centre of Paris, just gorgeous. Only a few minutes walk later and we were in front of the Notre Dame, I couldn’t believe it! Those of us new to Paris did the obligatory oohs and aahs and took miles of photos. I was quite surprised that the sixteen year olds were as interested and awe-struck as I was, but there you go, some things transcend age don’t they. We made our way back to the River Seine and the Ponte Neuf via a few other amazing but not quite so famous buildings.

Then, bloody hell, he left us to make our own way home!! I got home with no worries but poor Deb got side-tracked shopping and ended up miles and miles from where she thought she was. Luckily though, the woman she asked for directions was really helpful, even going with her to the metro to make sure she got on the right train.