France

01 May

Today is a public holiday here in France and, like yesterday, it is also very wet. I hope everyone at home is OK as I have been reading the news and talking to Kirby about the amount of rain you've had. We ventured out for a while yesterday and went to the Invalides, a beautiful building built by Napoleon for wounded soldiers in the early 1800s. It is now an army museum but the domed church at the back is where Napoleon is buried in a huge red stone casket. The church also holds the bodies of two of his sons. On the way back to the apartment we splurged and bought two éclairs - one coffee and the other chocolate. Maree and I both agreed that the coffee one was the nicest. We are just hanging around at present for the checkout and will then catch a taxi to the train station.

30 April

We woke this morning to rain which is expected to continue across Europe and the UK into the weekend. I also saw on the headlines that is is wet at home too. Tomorrow is a public holiday here in France for May Day so the railway stations will be busy. Yesterday we took the Metro and went to one of Paris' lovely parks, Parc Monceau. Apparently this is the place where many of France's wealthy and elite would have been pushed around in prams by their nannies. The buildings surrounding the park are beautiful, all private residences. From this park, it was a short walk to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Élysées. The area around the Arc is a massive roundabout with no lines and French traffic isn't really the most polite. I can remember driving around the Arc in a Kombi van in 1974, three times, because I couldn't get across to the exit I wanted to take!!! The Arc itself is a massive monument erected by Napoleon.

Maree and I strolled down the Champs Elysees looking like we belonged there as did hundreds of others. This is the place where you can buy just about anything (with a price tag to match) and the only place where we saw a Macdonalds, tucked away very discreetly. We were a bit brazen and walked into a beautiful building at the end as it was an auction house. The stuff on display, including motor boats at the front, was out of our budget range and only some was on display as most of it could be viewed upstairs.

So, tomorrow is an early morning to have time to pack, tidy the apartment etc as we are on the Eurostar around lunchtime arriving in London at 2pm.

27 and 28 April

Apologies for not updating the blog for the last couple of days but we've been out and about.

The day before last, Cath  and I went to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris in Montmartre, better known as Sacré-Cœur. We went on the underground Metro which was very fast.  When we got there were approx 100 steps so being of 'sound mind' Cath and I took the funicular (like a cable car) to the top.  It is a beautiful building with wonderful architecture and surrounded by other churches.  The view from the entrance to the church of Paris is fantastic as it is the highest point in Paris and only the Eiffel Tower stands taller (not including the business buildings which are outside of the centre of Paris). The inside of the church is adorned with wonderful altars, statues and mosaics.  I went down to the crypt which contains statues of saints and other places for burial.

After visiting the church, Cath and I went and visited the markets outside.  It is a shame that commercialism is allowed in such a beautiful place but this appears to be cost of tourism.  In the market in a block away, I fulfilled my wish of having a crepe- a lemon and sugar one - very delicious.

In the afternoon I went for walk and went towards the river.  In a park close to the river I noticed people with big signs and a lot of police and guards with their guns and rifles on.  As I approached to go up one of the streets I was told by one of the police that the street was closed.  So I crossed the street and spoke to a lovely French man who explained to me that the protest was about low wages and unemployment.  There were TV cameras and reporters getting ready to film.  I thought it best not to take any photos. The walk home was uneventful.

Yesterday, Cath and I went on the Batobus, which is a hop on, hop off cruise service on the river Seine.  It stops  at the Eiffel Tower, Musée d'Orsay, St-Germain-des-Prés, Notre-Dame, Jardin des Plantes/Cité de la Mode et du Design, Hôtel-de-ville, Louvre and Champs-Élysées. This was fantastic and allowed us to take more beautiful photos and see these places from another prospective.  It was also wonderful to pass the numerous bridges that are over this river.  It is certainly a very busy river and is used not only for these cruise boats but also by transport tugs. This way of travel gave us the freedom to get on and off as we pleased to visited these places and was valid until 7pm.  I would recommend this to anyone.

Cath and I stopped off at Notre-Dame - what a beautiful church.  It too is surrounded by many statutes and wonderful architecture.  Inside as well is magnificent with many alcoves with altars for people to pray - most are dedicated to a saint. Again most tourists were very respectful and the atmosphere in this church was very peaceful.  However, I think once you have been to St Peter's all the other  churches fade into comparison.

26 April

Today was a very wet day but luckily the rain held off in a serious way until after lunch so we got to the Eiffel Tower and had great views of Paris. We arrived around 9 to join an already long queue as the ticket office didn't open until 9.30. We stood in line and chatted to a family from Tasmania who had been on a 6 week trip with their children. The touts were everywhere and very persistent, trying to sell gaudy tower replicas and other types of rubbish. There was a strong police presence and they would disappear whenever the police came into view. Security was much tighter than in 2008. The view from the tower is quite spectacular. You take 2 lifts to get to the very top. The first one goes to the second floor and you then catch a smaller one to the very top.  Maree took lots of photos so we have some great shots of Paris. I think that she was pretty impressed by the tower.

We walked back to the apartment via Rue Cler, a market street, which has lovely shops - one for example sells only cheese, every kind you could think of. We ate lunch at the apartment and after that decided to go to the Louvre. The rain was getting slightly heavier by now, but we managed to walk all of the way to the Louvre which is across the river from where we are on the left bank. It was quite crowded because I think people had the same idea as us - doing something indoors because it's wet. We walked to see the Mona Lisa first and Maree got a great shot of it - not an easy feat when you see the crowds in front of it. After that we walked through the Egyptian and Greek antiquities and then onto the French stuff, finally ending at the apartment of Napoleon 111 - most ostentatious.

Once outside, the rain was now much heavier so we caught a taxi back to the apartment and put on a roast for tea - just the thing to have in Paris on a wet, miserable day.

Will see how the weather is tomorrow before deciding what to do in terms of sightseeing.

25 April

Yesterday morning, at 6.20am, we caught a local train from Bulle to Romont and then to Lausanne. Poor Didi had to get up very early to take us to the train station. In Lausanne, we then caught the fast train to Paris, a trip of about 4 hours arriving at 12. We then caught a taxi to the apartment only to find that I had been given the wrong address and we had to catch another one to the right apartment.They will reimburse us for the second taxi. We are in the St Germain area, which is where there are lots of government buildings, embassies and the famous department store, Bon Marche, The apartment is very nice though not as good as the one in which Kirby and I and the boys stayed in 2008. However, Maree and I have a lovely terrace so we sat out there yesterday evening (after a trip to the local supermarket for yummy provisions) and ate pate and nibbles, drinking red wine. C'est la vie!!!

We went for a short walk today and I took Maree into Bon Marche just to see the amazing food department which takes up the whole ground floor. There is every kind of food to buy here so when our provisions run low, we will head back for a gourmet top up. Tomorrow we think that we will head towards the Eiffel Tower and see the market on Rue Cler on the way.

We watched some of the Gallipoli ceremony this morning - quite moving. I was hoping to hire a car for tomorrow to drive to Albert to see where uncle William is buried but apparently it is a special day for the French so the roads will be very busy and it is likely to rain.  I'm not keen on driving on the wrong side of the road in those conditions, plus the hire charge was very expensive so we will probably take a train or bus out there during the week as we can walk the 3km or so to the cemetery.

I'm trying to type this on a French laptop which has a French keyboard so there may be mistakes I've missed - apologies in advance.