Random Paris

Here's a few more random pix.
Most probably know, but I didn' t realise if you click on any photo a larger gallery of that post pops up. Amazing technology! Well I thought it was quite good.

Keeping fit in Paris

Just walk everywhere!
Or... catch the Metros and do the stairs.
Just getting a bit of a twinge in the right achilles and the left hammy.
Nothing to do with my age.

We climbed Notre Dame tower today. Got there early, lined up in third position and were in the first group to climb and gaze lovingly over the Paris rooftops. The closeup views of the cathedral are also exciting , particularly the various gargoyles that stare menacingly from every rampart. The large wooden bell tower was all beams and big bell, reached by tiny stairs and overseen by a tiny man. Unfortunately a not so tiny school group followed us up and it was  a bit squeezy. I asked the tiny man if there was a people limit in the bell tower and he said "oui". Pretty exciting conversation huh?

Views down and up the Seine were sensational, taking in many of the beautiful arched bridges and glistening water below. Most of Paris' monuments were recognisable from this great vantage point. Once the school kids had left we had the top verandah to ourselves- quite an achievement in busy Paris.



















Our next morning stop was just down the road. The stunning stained glass panels in St Chapelle are full of colour and detail - although I was somewhat distracted by a conversation I had with a giant San Francisco man who loved everything and had a story for every minute of our brief meeting. Teenaged children rolled eyes at this point. They don't like their father having chats with strangers.
Anyway the place is amazing and worth the ridiculously slow queue to get in.

After a patisserie frenzy and a visit to the George Pompidou courtyard and water sculpture pond we trotted off along ancient lanes and cobbled streets through parts of the Marais district to reach the Place des Voges. This is a beautiful square with lanes of trees and grassy triangles for picnics and carefree lazing. Except if the official with the whistle decides to move you on to another grassy triangle  We watched this little humorous scenario and enjoyed watching it unfold with each new participant. The official took his work very seriously with his whistle in his mouth and his cigarette in hand.

We then planned to drop in at at the Louvre. Too much you say....

Paris

Our apartment is  400m down the hill from Sacre Coeur in an interesting older area. The nearest Metro Lamarck has 100 odd stairs to climb up at the end of the day before you hit street level. We have a 2 level apartment with a spiral iron staircase linking the living area with the downstairs bathroom and kids room. Arkady has a loft bed high above Anika's bed. The courtyard at the back is small and surrounded by tall apartment blocks and stepped rooftop views going all the way back up the  hillside.
We have little corner shop areas close by with boulangeries, bistros, cafes etc. There is a beautiful square nearby which caters for the many young children living in the area - cool playground facilities and run-around hedged courtyards.
The Montmartre backstreets are ancient and narrow - many artists have lived here at various stages of their careers and drunk themselves into creative oblivion in the bars and cafes.

The Sacre Coeur continues to be a tourist hotspot day and night so we are lucky to be on the other side of the hill. We can enjoy the atmosphere and then leave it behind. We've enjoyed shopping for food and have settled in for some lovely meals on the enclosed sunroom at the back of our apartment.

How good is goat's cheese? We had actually discovered  'chevre' (cheese) in Sydney but the French love it and it's everywhere on the menu- crepes, quiches, salads.












Yesterday we had a nice aimless, leisurely stroll around Isle St Louis near Notre Dame Cathedral and then through the Tuilleries gardens.
The weather has been sensational so there were thousands of sun worshippers on the lawns, by the ponds, lounging on those heavy duty iron Parisian lounge chairs, smoking en plein air and enjoying a glass of wine on the terraces.

All the major monuments look sensational, glistening in the sun, ready for their big close-ups. And millions of touristy shutterbugs can't be wrong. It's packed with people soaking it all up. In fact most of the tourists seem to be French.
Actually there were a few German school groups and a few noisy Italian school groups and some weird dutch-sounding Belgians.




How much fun can a European school student have?

I love Paris in the spring time....

 I love Paris in the spring time....(to quote a famous song) but not with all the other thousands of tourists and tour groups!

Yes, we are in Paris and it is beautiful spring weather and everyone, including the locals, are out enjoying the glorious warm days, clear blue skies and soaking up the sun and sights of the world's most touristed city.

After catching the fast train from Amsterdam to Paris our 1st afternoon was spent settling into our Montmarte apartment (complete with circular wrought iron staircase), visiting the supermarket (hence making Arkady a happy boy!) then getting our bearings with a wander up to Sacre Coeur. It was incredibly busy with the place overrun with school groups of all nationalities and heaps of people sitting on the stairs and grass, having picnics, enjoying the odd drink or two and obviously waiting for the sunset.

This time around we've ventured further afield to discover new arrondisements and see different sights including the Musee Marmottan, a hunting lodge housing one of the most extensive Monet collections as well as a massive exhibition of Berthe Morisot's work. The hunting lodge itself was fairly impressive and over the top, but the Monets, including a whole room of waterlillies paintings was fantastic. Even busier was the Morisot exhibition which was very popular with groups of impeccably dressed French women of a certain age.

Today was a great day of contrasts. First up was a visit to the Catacombs. This really made Anika's day, as the last time we were here the Catacombs were closed due to vandalism and she was very disappointed. After heading down 130 steps and along narrow corridors we came out into the ossuary section of the catacombs where we were surrounded by thousands and thousands of bones and skulls.

It was a fascinating place to visit where you felt totally immersed in years of history. More than 6 million bones are buried underground in the catacombs and everywhere you looked there was row after row of skulls and bones neatly stacked along the corridors, some of the bones dating back to the 1700s.







Later in the day we saw other macabre sights but from a much more recent period, courtesy of the Tim Burton exhibition. This was the exhibition that was in Melbourne about 2 years ago which we didn't get a chance to see then and I'm so glad we managed to catch it in Paris. It was a brilliant exhibition and very extensive and showed just what a wicked, odd sense of humour and imagination Tim Burton has.

It included an incredible range of his drawings and cartoons, costumes and props from many of his movies - Batman masks, Edward Scissorhands outfit and scissor hands, models from the Corpse Bride, weird animal sculpture creations, the wire contraption Willy Wonka wore as a kid to stop him from eating chocolate, the razors from Sweeney Todd just to name of few. It was fascinating and well worth seeing.

Off to Versailles tomorrow for a look at over the top indulgence and grandeur.

Miscellaneous Amsterdam

Views on the street - great stencil art, thoughtful political graffiti, poor quality tagging, bling on bikes, flowers on bikes, mobile phones and smoking on bikes, kids in trays on bikes, kids on the back of bikes, kids wedged in the middle of bikes, stiletto heels on bikes, ankle-breaking cobblestones, always interesting flea markets, tourists sliding onto pavements after too much toking, sweet suspicious wafts from coffee shops, historic and colourful friezes above doorways, multicultural takeaways, giant cheese shops selling giant cheeses.