Day 21 - Even though it is a short day, we still made the most of it. We got tix to Kensington Palace, which is where Princess Diana resided and now William and Kate live. you don't get to see their part of the palace, altho Chuck was looking for a door he could get into their place from. The part open to the public is focused on Queen Victoria, and some on a few other royals. Very interesting, and the grounds around it are also public parks, just lovely. We enjoyed a morning walk to Princess Di's memorial fountain as well. We picked up our luggage at the hotel and are now waiting in the lounge for our flight home. It is hard to believe, it has been the best trip ever. We are going to have a tough time topping this one!
(Chucks addition - I did look a little bit at the doors and layout. There was a door where a person was standing at all times as we came thru and then exited. Figured that could lead to the william and kates residence. Would have been nice to have dropped in and had tea and crumpets with them. Ok, maybe I'm being a little ridiculous. Ok, maybe a LOT. But anyway, it was a nice vacation. Sadly, we are on our way back!!!)
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Days 18-19 Paris
Day 18 - a full day in Paris. And a full day it was! We started with a bike tour of spots off the beaten trail. This tour company (wisely) assumed you could get yourself to the Eiffel Tower without them and showed us more unique sites in the city of lights. We enjoyed exploring the place Victor Hugo wrote Les Mis, the building with a cannonball still stuck in the side from the French Revolution, the Latin quarter (not hispanic, as it turns out, but near the Sorbonne and the students had to speak Latin who went there, hence the name). We had a nice lunch there from a street vendor and continued our ride. We saw the modern art museum and the interesting area filled with musicians and other creative things. Our tour guide showed us a little known entrance to the Louvre, which we used the next day but still would have faced long lines. We rode past Notre Dame, which we saw yesterday, and Sainte Chapelle, which we will try to see tomorrow. It was a great ride and our tour guide, a young woman from Holland, spoke excellent English. After our ride, we walked about town a bunch and made our way to the Arc du Triomphe, then went back to our hotel to rest before dinner. We were so tired and footsore we decided to eat at the hotel rather than hunt down a hotel. It was a good decision, because we were in a nice hotel and the dinner was good. After dinner, we took the bus to the Eiffel Tower for our 11 p.m. ride to the 2nd level. Great view, and a good time. The city is amazing at night.
Day 19 - our last day in Paris, boo. We were snookered by crowded entrance lines a couple of times in the a.m., first at the Louvre and then at St. Chapelle. If you don't have advance tickets and show up at least 30 min. before something opens in Paris, you might as well forget it. It will take hours in line to see things. The crowds are simply unbelievable, and we are not even here in the height of the season. The weather wasn't even particularly great, cool and cloudy, but the people are here. I can't imagine visiting Paris in the summertime. All you'd need to add to this is heat and even more people, and I'd have to flee for my life. I didn't have my heart set on seeing either of theses sites, so no big deal. I'd have liked to visit another art museum, but we were sufficiently annoyed at the crowds at this point that we determined to find a nice cafe for lunch and head out to the cemetery. Not to be checked in, mind you, just for a visit. There is a fantastic old cemetery here where a lot of famous people are buried. After having visited the old cemetery in New Orleans and enjoying it, we figured this would be even better, and it was. It is old and creepy and also beautiful, with the plants and statuary and the general decay of things. Moliere, Chopin, Sarah Bernhart (american actress), Jim Morrison (the Doors rock star), Oscar Wilde, the list goes on and on. Oh, before the cemetery, we visited Shakespeare and Co., a famous bookstore in Paris where Jack Kerouac and other famous authors used to hang out. It is really neat. A section devoted to beat poetry. Chuck bought a book there to read on the way home. After all our running around Paris, it is time to leave, sadly. I could do with one more day here. We get our train to Calais and on to the tunnel under the English Channel. in the US, we tend to refer to this as the Chunnel, but that is definitely "out" here. It was one of the high speed trains, you get from Paris to London in 2.5 hours. It was night time and I couldn't even tell when we were under the channel other than the air smelled different, pumped in. At its deepest point, the tunnel is 800 feet below sea level.
Day 19 - our last day in Paris, boo. We were snookered by crowded entrance lines a couple of times in the a.m., first at the Louvre and then at St. Chapelle. If you don't have advance tickets and show up at least 30 min. before something opens in Paris, you might as well forget it. It will take hours in line to see things. The crowds are simply unbelievable, and we are not even here in the height of the season. The weather wasn't even particularly great, cool and cloudy, but the people are here. I can't imagine visiting Paris in the summertime. All you'd need to add to this is heat and even more people, and I'd have to flee for my life. I didn't have my heart set on seeing either of theses sites, so no big deal. I'd have liked to visit another art museum, but we were sufficiently annoyed at the crowds at this point that we determined to find a nice cafe for lunch and head out to the cemetery. Not to be checked in, mind you, just for a visit. There is a fantastic old cemetery here where a lot of famous people are buried. After having visited the old cemetery in New Orleans and enjoying it, we figured this would be even better, and it was. It is old and creepy and also beautiful, with the plants and statuary and the general decay of things. Moliere, Chopin, Sarah Bernhart (american actress), Jim Morrison (the Doors rock star), Oscar Wilde, the list goes on and on. Oh, before the cemetery, we visited Shakespeare and Co., a famous bookstore in Paris where Jack Kerouac and other famous authors used to hang out. It is really neat. A section devoted to beat poetry. Chuck bought a book there to read on the way home. After all our running around Paris, it is time to leave, sadly. I could do with one more day here. We get our train to Calais and on to the tunnel under the English Channel. in the US, we tend to refer to this as the Chunnel, but that is definitely "out" here. It was one of the high speed trains, you get from Paris to London in 2.5 hours. It was night time and I couldn't even tell when we were under the channel other than the air smelled different, pumped in. At its deepest point, the tunnel is 800 feet below sea level.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Day 20
Day 20 (yeah, I know it's out of sequence):
Chuck posting - so we made it in last night from Paris via the Chunnel train. Here we are in London. The city and 2 days of the trip that I am responsible for. Whoo boy, big mistake to put me in charge! So, my original plan was to take a bike tour. But because we were worried about rainy weather (I know, why worry about that in London?) we did not book and pay for a tour in advance. Weather as of last night was predicted to be cool and sunny today, turning overcast in the afternoon and possibly rain. But it would have potentially started after the bike tour finished.
As we sat at breakfast this am, it started to rain. Sadly, I did not have a real backup plan should it rain. It wasn't a heavy rain, but there was quite a bit of wind, and it wasn't going to be very warm (mid 50's to 60 for a high). As we sat there and I quietly lamented the weather, I noticed 2 people in front of the hotel restaurant and they appeared to be giving out pamphlets or selling tickets, and then I saw it was for 2 different city bus tours. My problems were solved! After breakfast I would go out and check on the possibilities. But Karen noticed pamphlets in the hotel lobby, and after we talked to the concierge, we arranged a bus tour on a double decker system with an open air top. We also arranged tickets to the London Tower and our shuttle for tomorrow's trip to the airport.
The bus tour started cold (rain had stopped) but it was quite enjoyable. It was slow going (it seemed half of Europe was visiting London, and they were all on buses or on the road on bikes or in cars.) The audio tour was pretty good. We got around to quite a few sights. While we talked about one of the walking tours (Harry Potter film areas in london - free as part of the bus tour) and London Tower, as well as a boat ride, it became apparent we wouldn't be able to do everything. The bus was too slow, and traffic was huge. We stopped for the London Tower tour.
London Tower was awesome. Lots of history. Most of it from the medieval period, Built and rebuilt over the time period of 1060 or so to 1250 it was a true fortress. In those and future times, the kings and queens rarely lived in one place for a long period of time. They traveled back and forth quite a bit. It appeared that this trend seemed to end in the 1700's or 1800's. We had a guide for a short bit of time (it rained again, ending that) so we switched to an audio tour. We saw their Fusilier's museum, the infamous White Tower, their execution and chapel for interment, the torture rooms, and the CROWN jewels. Yeah, they keep some impressive Crown Jewels there. In fact, the big diamond on the end of the Queen's sceptre is about 500 carats. Cut from a raw diamond that weighed in over 3,000 carats (yeah, thats three thousand). What was funny was, at the end of the Crown Jewels building tour, there was a small offering container at the exit tour accepting donations to maintain the Crown Jewels tower and the rest of the London Tower. For some reason, I shouldn't think the royal family and the government of England would need the donations... haha.
It was a great tour. Definitely worth it. We left the tour and took the short boat cruise that was part of the bus tour and went back to Westminster Abbey. This time, we had a live guide, and he was humorous and fascinating. Then we strolled some of the more interesting areas. We had already been on the bus through the Oxford district, which is a huge shopping district. (Includes the Selfridge department store - the one that is currently depicted on the PBS/BBS show). What huge throngs of people. Anyway, we got dinner in Chinatown, walked around Leicester square and Trafalgar Square, and watched a group performing with a large street crowd. I took some video of that, pretty funny. Grabbed a large piece of double chocolate cake to eat. Yum. Some more downtown entertainment, and then an easy tube (subway) ride back to within a block or 2 of our hotel and finally, we can take a break.
Not looking forward to leaving tomorrow. We will probably visit Buckingham Palace, but cannot go in. We did watch the changing of the guard at the London Tower. It was not a faked change, but a real changing of the guard.
Well, till tomorrow.
Chuck posting - so we made it in last night from Paris via the Chunnel train. Here we are in London. The city and 2 days of the trip that I am responsible for. Whoo boy, big mistake to put me in charge! So, my original plan was to take a bike tour. But because we were worried about rainy weather (I know, why worry about that in London?) we did not book and pay for a tour in advance. Weather as of last night was predicted to be cool and sunny today, turning overcast in the afternoon and possibly rain. But it would have potentially started after the bike tour finished.
As we sat at breakfast this am, it started to rain. Sadly, I did not have a real backup plan should it rain. It wasn't a heavy rain, but there was quite a bit of wind, and it wasn't going to be very warm (mid 50's to 60 for a high). As we sat there and I quietly lamented the weather, I noticed 2 people in front of the hotel restaurant and they appeared to be giving out pamphlets or selling tickets, and then I saw it was for 2 different city bus tours. My problems were solved! After breakfast I would go out and check on the possibilities. But Karen noticed pamphlets in the hotel lobby, and after we talked to the concierge, we arranged a bus tour on a double decker system with an open air top. We also arranged tickets to the London Tower and our shuttle for tomorrow's trip to the airport.
The bus tour started cold (rain had stopped) but it was quite enjoyable. It was slow going (it seemed half of Europe was visiting London, and they were all on buses or on the road on bikes or in cars.) The audio tour was pretty good. We got around to quite a few sights. While we talked about one of the walking tours (Harry Potter film areas in london - free as part of the bus tour) and London Tower, as well as a boat ride, it became apparent we wouldn't be able to do everything. The bus was too slow, and traffic was huge. We stopped for the London Tower tour.
London Tower was awesome. Lots of history. Most of it from the medieval period, Built and rebuilt over the time period of 1060 or so to 1250 it was a true fortress. In those and future times, the kings and queens rarely lived in one place for a long period of time. They traveled back and forth quite a bit. It appeared that this trend seemed to end in the 1700's or 1800's. We had a guide for a short bit of time (it rained again, ending that) so we switched to an audio tour. We saw their Fusilier's museum, the infamous White Tower, their execution and chapel for interment, the torture rooms, and the CROWN jewels. Yeah, they keep some impressive Crown Jewels there. In fact, the big diamond on the end of the Queen's sceptre is about 500 carats. Cut from a raw diamond that weighed in over 3,000 carats (yeah, thats three thousand). What was funny was, at the end of the Crown Jewels building tour, there was a small offering container at the exit tour accepting donations to maintain the Crown Jewels tower and the rest of the London Tower. For some reason, I shouldn't think the royal family and the government of England would need the donations... haha.
It was a great tour. Definitely worth it. We left the tour and took the short boat cruise that was part of the bus tour and went back to Westminster Abbey. This time, we had a live guide, and he was humorous and fascinating. Then we strolled some of the more interesting areas. We had already been on the bus through the Oxford district, which is a huge shopping district. (Includes the Selfridge department store - the one that is currently depicted on the PBS/BBS show). What huge throngs of people. Anyway, we got dinner in Chinatown, walked around Leicester square and Trafalgar Square, and watched a group performing with a large street crowd. I took some video of that, pretty funny. Grabbed a large piece of double chocolate cake to eat. Yum. Some more downtown entertainment, and then an easy tube (subway) ride back to within a block or 2 of our hotel and finally, we can take a break.
Not looking forward to leaving tomorrow. We will probably visit Buckingham Palace, but cannot go in. We did watch the changing of the guard at the London Tower. It was not a faked change, but a real changing of the guard.
Well, till tomorrow.
Days 16-17
Day 16 - a day of great sites and impossible lines. We arrive at Giverny in the a.m., a bit crowded but no real long lines. Lovely, lovely place. The spring flowers are spectacular. I haven't said enough about them, but everywhere we go things are in bloom and we've really enjoyed spring here. The only thing that was behind schedule here was the wisteria on the famous Monet bridge over the pond (the one he painted). We have seen wisteria everywhere (purple flower on vines on sides of buildings, etc.) Next we drive a short distance to Versailles, but a world apart. From the natural, free flowing lines of Giverny to the rigid, precise overpruning of Versailles, even the weather changed from sunny and pleasant to cold and windy. The crowds were oppressive, except in the gardens because it was so cold! The line for tickets, we were told by a Versailles employee, would be an hour, and the line to enter, 2 hours. And she said we probably would not be able to see everything due to the crowds. We opted to not go in. This theme of crowds was to repeat itself a few more times in the coming days. Versailles in general was a bit off putting to me. Too big, too much gold, oppressive somehow.
Day 17 - Off to Paris! We drop the car at Orly airport and arrange a fairly easy transport to Paris. I was fearful of this because it did not appear to be a direct route, but the ticket agent gave us a ticket all the way to the station closest to our hotel with 2 transfers, so no problems. We walked to the Louvre and the surrounding areas, everything was closed because this is Labor Day (May 1) in France! Lots of happy, relaxed people, families, everywhere. The weather was pleasant till late afternoon when there was a prolonged rainstorm. We had to while away the time in a cafe, eating and drinking. What a pity....We took an evening boat cruise on the Seine, delightful. The Eiffel Tower "sparkles" every hour at night with lights for about 5 minutes. Then we took a city bus back, but it turned out to be going the wrong way and we rode the entire route. It would have been nice except that I had to pee and couldn't get off the bus as I didn't know where we'd find a bathroom anyway that late at nite!!
Day 17 - Off to Paris! We drop the car at Orly airport and arrange a fairly easy transport to Paris. I was fearful of this because it did not appear to be a direct route, but the ticket agent gave us a ticket all the way to the station closest to our hotel with 2 transfers, so no problems. We walked to the Louvre and the surrounding areas, everything was closed because this is Labor Day (May 1) in France! Lots of happy, relaxed people, families, everywhere. The weather was pleasant till late afternoon when there was a prolonged rainstorm. We had to while away the time in a cafe, eating and drinking. What a pity....We took an evening boat cruise on the Seine, delightful. The Eiffel Tower "sparkles" every hour at night with lights for about 5 minutes. Then we took a city bus back, but it turned out to be going the wrong way and we rode the entire route. It would have been nice except that I had to pee and couldn't get off the bus as I didn't know where we'd find a bathroom anyway that late at nite!!
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