Sunday, August 28, 2011 – Paris, France – Lights from the top of Montparasse Last Night in Paris

Well, our summer in Paris is coming to an end. After spending 3 months here, we both agree with the words of Audrey Hepburn, "Paris is always a good idea." We think we have finally seen so much of the city.  Of course there are still parts of the Louve that we have not seen. It is just too big.

To celebrate our stay we went to the top floor of Montparasse which is one of the tallest buildings in Paris and is in an area that does not have any other tall buildings. 

They have a great view of all of Paris.

On to new adventures in Vienna, Austria for 3 weeks.

Thursday, August 25, 2011–Paris, France–Train Station Incident

Well, we had another unusual experience today.

We went with Lee and Becky to the rail station for them to catch their train to Rome. While we were on the platform saying our “goodbyes” and wishing well for a continued trip, about 20 feet from us all of a sudden two plain clothes police officers put a man, about 50 years old wearing a suit and tie, in handcuffs and started to go through his luggage. A short time later, they pulled out a “package” and used a knife to open a packet of powder, nodded to each other and then led him away. That is when we noticed a dog going around sniffing everyone and their luggage. After the first guy had gone we noticed a young couple that looked to be just traveling, got on the train with the dog and in a few minutes took another man off the train and went through his luggage but they did not find anything so they let him back on the train. I suspect he must have been around something to catch the attention from the dog. One of the agents was a small lady weighing about 95 pounds, maybe 5'2" and wearing a simple backpack. I would bet that she could take care of herself.  The officers were all so young looking and just blended in with all the passengers on the train and we have seen several people traveling with pets so it all came as a big surprise.

After we got back to the apartment we rested and began doing all our laundry packing up our things and cleaning up the apartment to prepare for our next adventure  - Vienna, Austria.

Sunday, August 24, 2011 – London, England

We got an early start by taking the 7:13 am Eurostar train Paris to London.  2 hours 15 minutes later we were in London.  The train goes  under the English Channel 150 miles in a tunnel.  Total distance is 308 miles.  Very easy trip on the train.  We arrived and took to the streets.

   

Eurostar trains  at London Train Station.          Olympic Rings at the train station.

Traveling down he “Tube” subway in London.

 

  

Starting out at Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column

English Pub

West Minister Abby

Theater District

Quaint shops and buildings

Dragon Gate Entrance

Street Light Pole

Newspaper street area of London

New buildings are going up all over

 

Tower Bridge

Flower towers lined the street.

 

 

 

 

Guards at Buckingham Palace

Ferris Wheel is called the London Eye.  Tallest ferris wheel in Europe.  Erected in 1999.  It has 32 sealed air conditioned passenger capsules that whole 25 people each.  It was not a clear day so we did try to go on it.  It costs anywhere from 16-40 Pound Sterling ($26-65 USD) to ride on it for 30 minutes.  Price depends on standard, priority, champagne experience, chocolate tasting, etc.

Big Ben.  The bell has such a beautiful ring to it.

Tower

Love the flowers on the building.

Statues and monuments

      Streets of London

For lunch we ask a workman on the street where to find good Fish and Chips. He told us to go to O’Neill’s Pub - “The missus and I like to go there.” It was excellent.

 

Fish and Chips at O’Neill’s – mmmm good.

Lee and Becky in a London Phone Booth.  London still has several phone booths in the city.

 

Tower of London was built over 1000 years ago.

Unusual City Hall looks like a Darth Vader helmet

    

Stopped at a pub to have one more beer before leaving London  to go back to Paris.

  I’ll have one more, please.

Saturday, August 20, 21, 22, 23, 2011 – Paris France, Visitors from Texas

Saturday, August 20.  Edward and I took the RER train to the Charles De Gaulle Airport (what a huge place) to pick up Elaine’s my brother, Lee, and Becky.  They are going to be taking a tour in Italy and decided to stop for a few days in Paris/London on the way to Rome.  We met them at the airport and then we all took the RER train from the airport back to our Paris apartment.  After a short visit and then rest we went out for dinner on the Left Bank.  We went to the Latin Quarter and ate at a sidewalk café then strolled through the streets on the Seine River.

Stopped for a rest on the Ponte Neuf.

Eiffel Tower at night from the Seine River

We ended up later on Boulevard Saint Germaine at the Les Deux Magots Restaurant and Bar.  This place had the reputation of the rendezvous of the literary and intellectual elite such as surrealist artists, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, some young writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Orson Wells and artist, Pablo Picasso.  We had to stop and “drink us one” at such a famous place. 

As we were finishing our wine we noticed a few drops of rain and decided it would be a good idea to just take a taxi back to the apartment and not the Metro (subway).  We went over to the taxi queue and the first taxi told us he would not take 4 persons.  We go to the next taxi which appeared to be about the same size so we just went to the next which was larger and the 2nd taxi driver jumped out and shouted at us “What is wrong with my taxi!”  We were a little startled that he did that but he was offended at us for passing him up.  We were just stupid and thought we were doing the right thing by going to a larger taxi.  We apologized to him and everything was fine.  It actually was a very nice BMW taxi and was very comfortable.  He took us directly to the apartment and was reasonable with the rate.  It had been a long flight and then a long evening.  When you first come over you just can’t help but to get out to see everything.

Sunday, August 21.

We started Sunday afternoon going up to the Pigalle Area of Paris.  This is the Old Red Light District of Paris.  This is where the famous Moulin Rouge is located.  It was built in 1889 and is best known as the birthplace of the can-can dance.  Today it is mostly a tourist destination with musical dance entertainment shows with 1000s of costumes with feathers, rhinestones and sequins much the shows in Las Vegas with dinner and champagne.  It still has a lot of sex shops and clubs(?) that are not on a typical tourist itinerary.  It is on the way up to Montmartre and they still have plenty of buses to take people to see the shows at the Moulin Rouge.

Famous windmill at the Moulin Rouge

A large birdhouse at Montmartre near Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basilica Catholic church.

A beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower from the top of Montmartre which is the highest point in Paris.

View from the bottom of the steps to Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basilica Catholic church construction started in 1875 and completed in 1914.

On the left side of this picture you can see the funiculaire (a vertical lift) to the top of the Butte de Montmartre.  Otherwise you would climb many and I mean many flights of steep steps.  There is also Place du Tertre a square surrounded by cafes and shops filled with local artists selling their works.

La Maison Rose Restaurant “Pink House” on Montmartre.  Made famous by the Maurice Utrillo painting.  It was frequented y Utrillo, Picasso and Gertrude Stein.

 

  

Tabletop at Le Chat Noir Café and Menu.  They had some really cute napkins also, white with the black cat.

Lee with a sculpture on the Seine River

Edward and Lee enjoying the wonderful weather.

Edward delivering Champagne for us on the River Seine Cruise Tour

After the cruise we strolled along the River Seine.

We passed by the Freedom Torch or Liberty Flame, which is a replica of the Statue of Liberty flame in NYC. It has become an unofficial memorial to Princess Diana. It is located above the tunnel where she died in the car crash.

Some of the cars at the George W in Paris

Monday, August, 22

La Sainte Chapelle – The Holy Chapel is actually located within the Palais de Justice complex (Court House) on the Ile de la Cite at the opposite end of the island from Notre Dame.  It was erected by Louis IX, King of France, to house the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross.  They could never prove it but they couldn’t prove it wasn’t.  He paid a lot of $$$ for it.

The stain glass windows are brilliant reds, blues, greens and yellows.  The windows tell the complete biblical story in each set of windows – Genesis, Exodus, etc.  It is so interesting to see that each window is completely different than the next.  THIS HAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL STAIN GLASS WINDOWS OF ANY CHURCH WE HAVE EVER SEEN.  It is not on many tourist guides but it should be.

  

  

Next we went to the other end of the island to Notre Dame to see even more stain glass windows.

After this we walked to the Shoah Memorial Museum.  They have large collection of history of the Jewish genocide in WWII and remembrance and education.

For lunch, since we were near Marias Area, we had introduce to Lee and Beck the BEST FALLAFEL and an Israeli beer at L’as du Fallafal.  It is the best place to have a fallafel.

After lunch we went to the Louvre Museum.  Always crowed and it was too late to get in that day but we were able to see some of the sculptures, etc. through some windows.  Then we walked through the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center below the Louvre to get to the Metro station.

 Louvre Museum Sculptures

They have some stairs with an elevator in the middle of it located under the pyramid at the Louvre.

.

Getting on the elevator.            Going up.                    2nd floor.