May 31 - Barcelona

What a great day it was to be in Barcelona Spain.  The sun was out and the temperature was warm.  The streets were full of Saturday shoppers and tourist out enjoying the fine weather.  In the next block, in a city square, there was a local music concert going on.  A group of six young girls, who range in age from twelve to fourteen, were singing to an audience of about thirty people in the square.   It is good to be alive.

Today we went to see the works of Spain’s most famous architect, Antoni Gaudí. This early 20^th century architect designed many famous buildings in Barcelona.  He designed and started the building of the cathedral known as the Sagrada Família.  It has taken 130 years to complete the current structure and its final completion isn’t expected to finish until 2026.  When you look at the cathedral, you think it is so ugly that it must have been designed by someone on bad drugs.  Then when you take the guided tour, you find out that Gaudi’s guiding design principal was that in nature nothing exists in a straight line or forms a perfect 90 degree corner.  Everything is curved and natural light forms colour.

For example the stained glass is blue and green on the side of the church facing south to the Mediterranean Sea and the stained glass on the other side is red and orange as it faces the sunrise. The support structure for the roof is formed to look like giant trees.  In fact the branches of these trees protrude from the roof and appear as ornamental trees on the exterior of the church.

The guide also explained the symbolism that can be found on the façades and in the interior of the church.  It was very fascinating. This ranks as one of the most impressive churches that we have ever visited.

Sagrada Família

Sagrada Família

Sagrada Família

We then went to Casa Batilo, which is an apartment building designed by Gaudi.  The word gaudy is derived from Gaudi and this best describes these apartments.  The basic design is based on the structure of a fish and on top of the building is a series of brightly coloured and whimsical turrets.  The interior atrium is a light blue mosaic, which appears to be unicoloured but in fact is several shades of blue. The different intensity of sunlight makes it appear to be all one shade of blue. Again there are very few straight lines to be found.  Everything is curved. This apartment building truly could be placed in Disney World and not be out of place.

Casa Batilo

Casa Batilo

Casa Batilo

Casa Batilo

On the way back to our apartment we stopped for lunch and had a wonderful plate of Seafood Paella.  There is nothing better than fresh seafood.

Late in the afternoon, our street was the scene of a political rally.  They were marching towards the University Square where there was a large police presence.  There should be no problems as long as there is no one causing any damage.  If they do cause problems, I pity them as the police are all giants with muscles the size of tree trunks.  As far as I can tell from the printing on a balloon they are protesting that there isn't enough guacamole in Madrid, but I could be wrong.

Protest march along our street

We decided to return to the En Ville Restaurant tonight to celebrate our last night in Barcelona.  The food as we discovered earlier was great.  Both Marg and I had lamb and John had "a baby goat."  I would highly recommend this restaurant. 

After dinner both Marg and I stopped at a bar, called Casa Almirall,  that is more than one hundred and fifty years old.  We loved the old wooden bar and the bottles that appeared to have been never used since they were placed on the shelf.  It appears to be a student bar now.

When we got back to the apartment there were helicopters flying around the neighbourhood and many police convoys blocking streets.  I went for a walk to see what was happening but there didn't appear to any disturbances going on in the immediate vicinity. The night life is.going strong, so I guess we're not in the middle of a war zone.

May 30 - Barcelona

What an amazing neighbourhood we are staying in.  The apartment is on Costa Joaquin which is in a working class neighbourhood of Barcelona.   The street is always filled with people who generate lots of excitement and passion.  Next door to us, someone has hung an Ottawa Senator's flag on their balcony. You have to love it.

Hockey fans in Barcelona

I just finished reading an article on Barcelona and its role in the Spanish Civil War.  We are not too far from where the first shots were fired.  Given the damage that city sustained during the war including a saturation bombing by the Italians in March 1938, it is incredible that city maintained its character and its turn of the 20^th century charm.

Today we took a walk to the Barri Gotic section of the city.  This is the old section of the city.  The layout of the streets dates back to the medieval period. The streets are very narrow and twisty and are filled with many different shops and restaurants.

The Barcelona Cathedral is an impressive church with Gothic style steeples that dominate the neighbourhood. The various crypts inside the church are amazing.  There is lots of gold in the statues and tombs. I would assume that this is as a result of the gold taken by the Spanish Conquistadors from the Inca’s of South America.

Barcelona Cathedral

We then took a stroll up the La Rambla. La Rambla is a pedestrian mall, flanked by two roadways in central Barcelona.  The tree-lined pedestrian mall stretches for 1.2 kilometres connecting Plaça de Catalunya in the centre with the Christopher Columbus Monument in the port.  Along La Rambla is an outstanding farmers market where you can get fresh vegetables, fruit, eggs, cheese and meat. It is also a great place to people watch.  Unfortunately it is also the pick pocket capital of the world.  

La Rambla

Farmers Market on the Rambla

The stonework on the mall is an optical illusion that makes you feel as if the walkway is uneven and wavy.  In fact it is flat and as long as you don’t look down, you will be fine.

A thunderstorm rolled into Barcelona late in the afternoon.  I'm finding it hilarious to check out all the various weather web sites.  There is not a weather forecasting service that is remotely close to predicting the weather that any other weather service is predicting.  I've configured the laptop to check on four distinct services, so one of them should be correct.  Tomorrow, in Barcelona, it will either have thunderstorms with 80% chance of rain or be sunny all day with some clouds or everything in between.  Never again will I criticize Environment Canada.

For dinner we went to El Jardin, which is just off the Rambla in a very secluded city square that is landscaped with a nice quite garden.  We ordered Tapis, which are a number of small plates of various dishes which you share with your dinner party.  It was a very tasty and relaxing experience.  Afterwards we went for a drink in a bar along the Rambla, to watch the night time crowd.  It is much younger and livelier than the daytime crowds. 

May 29 - Barcelona

Today we decided to explore as much of Barcelona as could be reasonably expected over a single day.  We took the “hop/on - hop/off” bus tour, which got us to as many sites as possible without exhausting ourselves. 

The theme of the morning tour as was the Antoni Gaudí tour.  Gaudi was a local architect, who designed very unique buildings.  His most famous design was the Sagrada Familia, which is a church that is still being built after 100 years of construction. He has a famous quote that it did not need to be finished on a rigid schedule because God had all time in the world.   His designs are very unique and very creative, and they have a very psychedelic feel to them.  You can find his works all over Barcelona.

Count Eusebi Güell, who was Gaudi’s patron, actually set up a housing development where Gaudi’s designs and those of  his associates would be incorporated into houses in a self-contained community that would reflect the artistic dreams of the architects. Park Guell is a wonderful spot to spend a relaxing few hours. 

In the afternoon we visited the south end of the city which included the harbour.  After lunch we stopped at the Placa d’Espanya which is a magnificent plaza with fountains and an art museum.  It was also the main centre of the 1992 Olympic Games.  

We then went for a leisurely stroll along the waterfront, where we got to see a statue of Christopher Columbus that was erected for the World’s Fair in the late 1800’s.

After the tour, it has become very obvious that Barcelona is a very modern city that takes pride in its modern and unique architecture.   After seeing Barcelona you can agree with Prince Charles of England that most modern design suffers in comparison.  The cubism that you see in North America for its buildings is very boring in comparison to what you see in Barcelona.  Lots of imagination can be found in the buildings of Barcelona.

Tonight we went to a local restaurant call L’Havana. We knew that the food would be very good given the rather amble size of the owner. The lack of tourists in the restaurant indicated that we had found a local treat.

May 28 - Barcelona

This morning we had a very much appreciated late wake up call.  We decided that because we couldn't get possession of the apartment until late in the morning that we would just relax.

While riding to the apartment in a cab, we both declared that Barcelona had a very different feel about it than Paris.  Neither of us could definitively say what was different about the architecture but we both thought it revolved around the balconies and the iron railings.  Also the colours of the buildings seemed a bit brighter and the buildings a little more modern.  Just as with any major city the traffic is hectic and there is a mass of people on every street.

The agent who showed us around the apartment was a very pleasant lady who is expecting her first child any day now.  She was due yesterday.  The apartment is called En Ville and is located on Costa Joaquin.  It is very long and narrow but has plenty of room for three or four couples.  It is also very secure as the door has four dead bolts.

View of Costa Joaquin from our apartment

After settling in, we decide to go for a walk to a recommended restaurant.  As with any new city we got totally disoriented and ended up walking in the wrong direction.  We ended up in the university section of the city. Along the main street some students were protesting and had the road blocked.  About five minutes after we passed, we heard the police arrive and the protest ended.  When we walked back to the apartment there was a heavy police presence to discourage the protesters from forming up again.

University Square

Catalunya Square

John and Heather arrived a little after 2:00pm.  They were very much relieved to have arrived because of the insane traffic.  I guess there are a lot of traffic circles and one way streets that you don’t notice when you are walking.

This evening we had a very pleasant Skype session with Rocky and Joan to celebrate his birthday.  We do miss them dearly as they are still an integral part of this trip.  Somehow video conferencing just isn't the same.

Despite a thunderstorm, we have a regular convoy going to the grocery store across the street to get wine. As I've said many times, there is no such thing as bad European wine.

Tonight we went to the En Ville restaurant associated with the apartment.  The food was very good and the service was excellent.

The rain had not stopped as we prepared to go to bed, so here is hoping for better weather tomorrow,

May 27 - In Transit to Barcelona

Au revoir à Paris.  After a great week in Paris we went to Barcelona to meet up with John and Heather.  We took a cab from our apartment to Gare d’Lyon to catch our train south.  We had been told that it was impossible to catch a cab during rush hour, so we left earlier than was necessary.  Wouldn't you know it, there was a cab at the taxi standing waiting for us, so we were two hours early.  The ride was really exciting as the driver did his best to cut off all traffic in his way.   Several times we both thought he was going to drive up on the sidewalk to gain same ground on the traffic.

The first leg of our trip took us from Paris to Perpignan on the TVG, which is a high speed train.  This train travelled at speeds up to 260 km/hr.  The ride was so smooth that we didn't even feel the speed. You can watch the video below to get a feel of the ride at this top speed.

Train trip on TVG

As we left Paris, the scenery was very flat and rural.  There seemed to be a lot of cattle farms along this route.  After Lyon the terrain became much more hilly as we entered the Rhone/Alps region.  Here we started to see some vineyards.  I expected to see chateaux and old abbeys but that was not the case.  The villages seemed to be a mix of old red tiled roofed houses and modern block apartments.  As we approached the Mediterranean, the landscape became flat again.  Along the way we saw a large number of wild bushes with yellow flowers.  We believe they are called Broom.  Apparently they are very toxic.

We transferred at Perpignan to a Spanish train.  It was slower than the TVG but it was still a very smooth ride.  Wouldn't you know it, once we got into Spain the train broke down at the first station inside the border and we had to wait for forty minutes for another train to arrive.  It turned out that this train was another high speed train going to Madrid with a stop in Barcelona. Even with the delay we still arrived in Barcelona fairly close to our expected time of arrival. This is the advantage of trains in Europe.  Had this been in Canada, we all would have been transferred to a cramped school bus to continue the journey.

During this last leg of this trip we had an interesting conversation with a couple from Norway.  They have a farm north of Oslo and another home in Lyon.  They were going to Barcelona to visit their son and their grandchildren. Although they had taken a train from Lyon to Perpignan, they told us that they had been stopped and transferred to a bus for a section of the route because the railway workers were on strike. I guess we lucked out because we had no problems.

Being on the train and seeing all the young people backpacking, reminded me of my first trip to Europe in 1976 with John.  I have lots of fond memories from that trip. Somehow I think I packed fewer clothes for that four month vacation than I have for this trip.

We booked into the Alexandra Hotel for the night as we won’t take possession of the Barcelona apartment until tomorrow.  Rocky had booked this Hilton hotel before his heart attack. It is a wonderful hotel with many modern amenities.

The cabbie, who drove us from the train station to the hotel, was an interesting gentleman from Columbia.  He is learning English in order to come to Canada and get a job.  We wished him all the best in his efforts.

You would think that with all our travels that we would have known what to expect in a high end hotel.  We got into the elevator and it didn't work.  Only after standing there and looking dumb, did we realize that you needed to insert your room key to activate the elevator.  Once in the room, we couldn't get the lights on. Again you needed to insert you room key into a reader to turn on the lights.

For dinner we went to the Ramblus. The Ramblus is a street that runs through central Barcelona and is the main corridor for the entertainment district.  The dinner menus are filled with sandwiches instead of the normal type of meals that we are used to.  We went to a place called Mas Q Menos and I had Melon soup and a turkey sandwich.  Marg had a veal sandwich with lemon pie for dessert.

May 26 - Paris

Paris is a city of smokers.  In my very subjective and totally unscientific census, I suspect that the percentage of people in Paris who smoke is 300% more than you would find in Ontario.  The cafes reserve their patios for smokers.

The Paris fashions that you see on the street are very retro.  Miniskirts and hot pants are very much in vogue for females.  For men it appears big belt buckles and large wide scarves that are tied around the neck are in fashion.  It makes Howard from the Big Bang Theory look stylish. Also everyone has a phone attached to their ear.

Just like in Rome there are lots of Africans who sell cheap trinkets at all the major tourist sites.  Of course it is totally illegal and it is actually very funny to see these vendors sprint away at Olympic speed with their goods when the police arrive.

Vincent, who owns the apartment where we are staying, told us about the problems caused by the Gypsies. These criminals make their living stealing off unsuspecting victims. He told us of their tricks, such as asking you to sign a petition and then picking you pocket when you are distracted, or acting like they have found a valuable ring on the ground and then picking you pocket when you are examining this useless piece of junk. During our short stay in Paris, we have encountered both of these scams.

Our apartment is very comfortable.  For an European apartment it is normal but by North American standards it would be the size of a bachelor apartment.  Still it is enough space for anyone who is only using the room to sleep in.  

For lunch we went to Angelina’s.   This is a very famous tearoom near the Louvre.  It is famous for its pastries and hot chocolate.  It is has been operational at the same site for 110 years.

Angelina’s Tea Room

Afterwards we went for a walk in the Tuileries Garden.  The gardener of King Louis XIV landscaped the gardens in 1664 to give them their current French formal garden style. The gardens, which separate the Louvre from the Place de la Concorde, are a cultural walking place for Parisians and tourists.  In the Second World War it was the scene of vicious fighting from the retreating Germanys and the Free French forces.

Tuileries Garden

Tuileries Garden

It is amazing how the French idealize General de Gaulle.  True he was in charge of the French forces in the liberation of France during WW2 but it was a minor role in comparison to the British, Canadian and American forces.  He also was responsible for a messy African war that involved France and their colony Algeria.  As a Canadian it is also hard to forget his support for  the Quebec independence movement during 1967.  In the late sixties France was on the verge of a civil war because of his policies.  Still, there many monuments with his name attached in Paris.

For dinner we went to a small local restaurant call Le Gavroche.  It was an authentic French provincial restaurant, where the hams and sausages are hung from the ceiling and there is no tourist translation of the menu.  There were maybe 15 tables and the place was full by 9:00pm.  The food was delicious and we would highly recommend it.

May 25 - Paris

Marg has chosen a wonderful spot to stay in Paris.  It is an apartment on Rue. St. Marc.  Within a twenty minute walk from the apartment there must be a hundred restaurants and bars.  They range from very quiet and classy to loud and noisy pub styled bars.  Late Friday night we heard loud singing and cheering which must have been fans watching a football match. 

Right next to us is one of the world’s first indoor shopping concourses called Passage des Panoramas.  This maze-like passage has numerous entrances and is full of wine bars, restaurants and shops.

The apartment is in a building is of mixed occupancy.  The first six floors are offices and the top two floors are apartments.  To gain entrance to the apartment building you must push this huge heavy iron gate. This is good for building muscles.

We are still trying to figure out how to use the combination clothes washer/dryer.  So far we haven’t been able to dry anything. The apartment has windows that open up by swinging in inwards on the side or swinging inwards from the top. 

It has taken us six days to become comfortable getting around Paris on the Metro, but it now seems natural. Of course we'll be leaving in a couple of days.

This afternoon we went to Montmartre.  Montmartre is a hill in the north of Paris. It is 130 metres high and gives its name to the surrounding district, in the 18th arrondissement.  Montmartre is known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit. It is also well known for its artist community, its nightclub district and its red light area. Many famous artists such as Salvador Dalí, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh had studios or worked in Montmartre 

The Basilica of the Sacré Cœur is a beautiful church and is much nicer than Notre Dame.  Being that is on top of the largest hill in Paris, it has a commanding presence over the city.  Next Sunday they are having a service to commemorate the anniversary of  a visit Saint Jean Paul II. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures from the inside of the basilica.  

Basilica of the Sacré Cœur in Montmartre

This is a very popular place to visit on a Sunday and the crowds were out enjoying the sun and warmth. Around the church there were many street performers and sketch artists. In Place du Tertre, next to the church, the serious artists displayed their pictures. Marg bought a nice print of the Eiffel Tower.

We stopped in a cafe in Place du Tetre to enjoy a glass of wine and ended up having a kettle of delicious muscles in a garlic broth.

Place du Tetre

This evening we went to dinner at a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower called Carette.  Marg had scallops which she loved because of the sauce that came with them.

Afterwards we went on a scenic cruise of the Seine River after dark.  This was very impressive and we would highly recommend it.  They call Paris "The City of Lights" and buildings along the Seine River are all lit, and the Eiffel Tower is truly amazing.

A lot of people stroll the banks of the river Seine at night.  One of the more bizarre sightings of the evening was of a couple where the male was taking pictures of his girlfriend/wife as she posed in the nude.

Seine at night

Notre Dame at night

Eiffel Tower at night

                                           

Watch the video above to see the amazing light show that is played each evening.

May 24 - Paris

This was a very busy day of sightseeing. We started by going to the Notre Dame Cathedral, where Victor Hugo situated his famous play the Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Construction of the cathedral began in the 12^th century.  The Cathedral is a good example of French Gothic architecture and was one of the first buildings to use arched exterior supports know as Flying buttress.  Unfortunately the lineup to go up to the roof to see the gargoyles was too long, so we had to skip it.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame Cathedral

We then walked through the Latin Quarter, past the Sorbonne University to the Pantheon.  The Pantheon is a national monument to the great French artists and thinkers, such as Victor Hugo and Voltaire.  It was built in the 18^th century by French king Louis XV.  The exterior is based on the Pantheon in Rome. The inside is very impressive with huge arches and beautiful paintings depicting French history.  The dome is under construction, which is why you got that strange looking background in the following picture.

Pantheon

We then went to the Hotel des Invalides.  In 1670 Louis XIV initiated the project as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers.  This is where all the French military heroes are buried, next to the military hospital.  The most famous tombs are that of Napoleon Bonaparte and Marechal Foch.  Napoleon's tomb is monstrous and reflects a desire of the French people to be once again a powerful nation in Europe. The dome on the Hotel des Invalides is spectacular.

 Hotel des Invalides

Napoleon Bonaparte tomb

Marechal Foch tomb

Hotel des Invalides

During the day we travelled with a hop-on / hop off bus tour called Big Bus Tours.  I would not recommend them as their route did not have a lot of stops and when they did stop the bus would wait for up to fifteen minutes, even though there were no new passengers.

After our visit to the Hotel des Invalides, we then took a break for some wine and a snack.  Marg had smoked Salmon and a cocktail called Sex on the Beach.

After this we went to the Eiffel Tower. The tower stands more than three hundred meters tall and offers an outstanding view of Paris. It was built for the 1889 World's Fair.

We stood in line for at least ninety minutes in order to get to the summit of the tower.  Just as we were about to enter the elevator to the top there was an alarm and everyone was asked to leave the tower.  Luckily for us it turned out to be a false alarm.  I don’t know if we could have walked down the stairs. 

Eiffel Tower

Arc de Triomphe

French Military College

Video of views from the Eiffle Tower

On the Eiffel Tower are engraved seventy-two names of French scientists, engineers, and mathematicians in recognition of their contributions. Eiffel chose this "invocation of science" because of his concern over the protests against his tower. The engravings are found on the sides of the tower under the first balcony and include the family name of our good friend Gilles Seguin, who will be visiting his ancestral home with Annie in the fall.

The plague is in recognition of Marc Seguin

After the Eiffel Tower we walked across the Seine River to the Trocadero and went for dinner at very exclusive restaurant call Le Coq.  We didn’t eat until 10:30pm.  Marg had veal and I had lamb stew.  Again we had a wine variety call Gravies, which we both really like.

In the Trocadero there was an electronic music concert going on.  The crowd seemed to be really getting into the groove and were having a great time.

May 23 - Versailles

Today we came to the realization that current high tech billionaires do not even compare to the wealth and power of 17^th century French kings.  We went to the Palace of Versailles, the residences of the French kings Louis XIII through Louis XVI.  The original residence, built from 1631 to 1634, was primarily a hunting lodge and private retreat for Louis XIII  and his family. Under the guidance of Louis XIV, it was transformed into an immense and extravagant complex surrounded by stylized English and French gardens.  It has been said that every detail of its construction was meant to glorified the king. The main reason for building this palace was that he felt that the Louvre in Paris was too small for his residence.

As we approached the palace, we were greeted by an enormous gate that is covered in gold leaf.  The palace itself consists of three huge buildings that housed the king’s residence and his government official’s offices.

Courtyard to the Palace of Versailles

The King’s apartments and state rooms are all spectacular with massive ceiling paintings, gold trim, and the best tapestries and furnishings. The size of these rooms are beyond our wildest imagination.

At the beginning of the tour you go through seven massive rooms that served as administrative offices for the king.  Each was decorated differently and was designed to reflect Greek or Roman mythology.

Next you enter the banquet hall which is known as the Hall of Mirrors. It is the length of several football fields.  The hall is covered with glass, gold and paintings and is lighted by dozens of expansive chandeliers.  There are three hundred and fifty-seven mirrors that decorate the seventeen arches opposite the windows. In a more recent historical note this is where the armistice was signed to the end the First World War and unfortunately set the stage for the beginning of the Second World War.

Kings Bedroom

Hall of Mirrors

You then enter the King's chambers.  There are two offices and the main bedroom.  The King's bedroom has opulent decor of gold and silver on a crimson background.  The walls are filled with masterpieces by famous artists from the 17th century.

You then enter the Queen's chambers.  When the palace was invaded by the rioters during the French revolution, Marie-Antoinette managed to escape from them through a little door on the left of the alcove, going into a corridor which gave her access to the Queen’s internal apartments, a dozen small rooms reserved for her private life and her servants.

Queen's bedroom

Outside is a huge garden that defined what all other European palaces strived to emulate. It would take over an hour to walk from the palace to its furthest corner.  The garden consists mostly of trees and sculpted shrubs. There are not a lot of flower beds in bloom, even at this late spring date.

Royal Gardens

At the back of the garden is a small palace known as the Grand Trianon.  This was the hunting chateau of Louis XIV.  Its gardens incorporate more flower beds than the main gardens of the Royal Palace.

Garden in the Grand Trianon

Further back from the Grand Trianon are a series of buildings that Marie-Antoinette used to escape from the royal court and live her fantasy life with her various lovers.  The most famous of the these buildings is the Temple of Love.

Temple of Love

This is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Paris area.  When we arrived there was a ninety minute wait to get into the palace.  This was with the museum pass which allows you to go to the front of the line.  I think that we should have gone to the gardens first and then visited the palace later in the afternoon.

I felt like a fool when we first got there.  I went to take a picture and got an error message on the camera.  I then realized that I had taken the memory card out of the camera to download the contents to the laptop and hadn't placed it back into the camera.  Luckily there was a store on the way to the palace, where I got a replacement card at a very ridiculous price.

The subway system and the RER train, which is equivalent of Toronto’s GO system, is very efficient but the ability to actually get a ticket defies belief.  You need to have coins to purchase a ticket at the kiosk as most of them do not accept paper money.  They will accept a credit cards, but not North American credit cards. Most of the time the information booths where you can also purchase tickets are not staffed.

After waiting in a long line at the Versailles station we finally got to the ticket kiosk, where a young lady came up to us and asked us if she could jump the lineup and get her ticket ahead of us.  Of course we told her no and that she should wait in line like everyone else.  She then started to bat her eyes and look very sad in an attempt to use her sex appeal to sway me.  It was so ludicrous that I was reminded of multiple Bugs Bunny / Loony Tunes cartoons.

May 22 - Paris

What a day this has been.  We are exhausted and sore all over.  We had read several different books on Paris, such as Rick Steve’s French tour book, but we ended up walking much longer than we had anticipated.  Marg has tweaked a hip muscle and is in some discomfort and my feet are very sore and tired.  I suspect we walked for about seven hours in total today.

We started off this morning in a heavy rain.  Initially we were going visit to the Arc de Triomphe. The Google map instructions had us going to a subway station about a 15 minute walk away from our apartment.  As it turned out, the subway station was right next to the Paris Opera House.

We decided to see the Opera House.  What a magnificent theatre this is.  Opulence is the only word that comes to mind when describing the facility.  Marble floors and columns and fresco paintings on the ceilings greet the patrons when they arrive.  The actual theatre had plush seating in the theatre with a crystal chandler that was enormous.  It would put the prompts for the Broadway play “Phantom of the Opera” to shame.  Of course only the elites of the Opera perform in this venue.  It should also be noted that Camille Saint-Saëns, at famous composer, is buried there.

Paris Opera House

Paris Opera House

We took the subway to the Arc de Triomphe.  The arch is in honour of those soldiers who fought for France during the Napoleonic Wars. This monument is two hundred years old having been completed in 1813.

We climbed the stairs all the way to the top of the monument. It was 300 steps in total in a very narrow circular stairwell. The climb was well worth it as the view of old Paris was spectacular.

Arc de Triomphe

Staircase in the Arc de Triomphe

After paying our respects to the “Unknown Soldier” at this solemn memorial site underneath the Arc,  we then went for a stroll down the Champs des Elysees. The Champs des Elysees is a grand tree lined boulevard filled with high end shops, cafes and theatres.

We stopped at the world famous George V hotel for lunch.  It was nothing special except for the people watching along this famous boulevard.   I ordered a “club sandwich” which was unique.  A more accurate description would be a toasted egg salad sandwich combined with chicken with  back bacon on the side.  It was very good.

Champs des Elysees

At this point our muscles starting acting up.  I guess we over did it.  It took us another 60 minutes to get to our final destination. 

We went to the Orsay museum where they have all the best of the European artists for the mid 1800’s to the beginning of the 20th century.  Here we saw paintings from the Impressionist school of art by Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh. The most famous picture from a North American point of view is Whistler’s Mother.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the art work.

The Musée d'Orsay is in an old railway station on the Left Bank of the Seine River.

Orsay Art Museum

For supper we went for a walk along the rue Reaumur.  This street is filled with bars and Irish pubs.  We did find a restaurant on a side street called Frenchy’s.  It was excellent. Marg had crispy chicken that she said she would go back for.  It had chicken, salad and cream cheese combined in a crust.  For our wine we had excellent Bordeaux from the Chateau des Gravieres.

The TV in the apartment has only one English channel and it shows old sitcoms and movies from the past 10 years.  I guess it is better than nothing.