Paris and the Louvre

Briggie and I got up early and found a little cafe on the corner of a traffic circle. As we sipped our cafe au lates and munched the seriously amazing croissants we marvelled that the french don't run into each other that often despite the breakneck speeds they drive at and the reckless abandon that is the attitude they share. We have yet to see a car that is not scratched and dented so assume these little touches happen all the time but have yet to see one. Very scary indeed!

So here we are in front of the Louvre. If the assembled look a bit tired its because they are. At 3am last night all were still awake and then up at 8am to get to our new accommodations and off to the Louvre. Sleeping in this heat is a bit of a challenge.

Here is a shot of where Brigitte accidentally slipped in the tub. Fortunately for all of us there was no long term damage. She recovers well from adversity.

 So here's my take on the Louvre. To really enjoy what it has to offer you need a significant amount of knowledge around either art history or European history but preferably both. I have neither. That said, at the Louvre, you have the opportunity to review 2 main forms of expression. These are sculpture and paint. The museum boasts a collection of French Italian and dutch painters that I think is unparalleled. The museum is immense. I'm guessing that there are 5 or 6 football fields of space contained within. So there are  A LOT of painting to review. At the top of the list is the Mona (Take a break) Lisa.

 There are a lot of paintings (to make the point again) - and for me, though the subject matter changes subtlety from one to the next, they don't really hold my interest. Most are dark reminders of the short and brutal lives of those who came before us, the gross entitlement of the aristocracy and the reliance on relion as a force for managing the poor huddled masses. Yes- I am ignorant in the ways of renaissance painters...and European history but there are my thoughts.

But when it comes to sculpture! I'm all there. The Roman, Italian, French and Greek sculptures are fantastic. And while the male form is so well attended to by all the masters, the female form is seriously under-represented. Not enough female gods is the problem. Where were the equal rights folks back then? It's surprising that the nice people at the human rights tribunal haven't been involved in this issue where they can spend even more of our money on useless endeavours. (Sorry - got some of my own history on this)

I'm not sure what the Venus de Milo (pictured above) is all about. Sculpted by an unknown Greek and missing a few parts, I will say that it is pleasing to the eye. It's not clear to me why it gets top billing though.

There are a number of other sculptures of Aphrodite and other females that I enjoyed. The Greek "draped subject" in either female or male is amazing. In some sculptures the material is clearly wind blown again the body of the subject and each fold ripple and twist of the fabric is an awe-inspiring reminder of just how special they were. How did they do that?????

Onto the male forms! They are Exceptional. Spartacus, Hermes, Hercules, etc.  are all there with each muscle perfectly sculpted. You can't help but marvel at the ability of the sculptor to so perfectly express the beauty of the human form. My favorite was Spartacus who I clearly look very much like. You be the judge :)

Below are a couple others that I though were amazing. Check out Aphrodite draped...isn't that something!

We had planned to head next to Versailles but I once again was over ruled and we headed back to the Champs Eylesey for more shopping. On the one hand there is so much history to see - on the other there are so many cool things to buy - what's a Dad  to do.

I did like the new Toyota. (all the major car companies have spots on the TCE) It's very much like a smart car but a bit more refined looking. And at 4.5 l per 100 kms it rivals my scooter for fuel economy.

Paris - Duexieme Jour

Slept in until late morning then B and I ran out for fresh croissants. How can you not?

Then off to Notre Dme to experience it in all its glory. Couldn't help but notice a scooter or 2 along the way. There are more scooters in Paris than beurocrats in Victoria. The difference is that scooters are good for something :) HA! I have been riding my scooter for the last 2 years and felt like I had come home. The gals in thier heels and dresses - men with ties and suit jackets. It's scooter utopia!!!

Enough about scooters. 28years ago Iwalked into Notre Dame and was gob-smacked by the beauty of the stained glass work. Would it be as impressive this time I wondered? Well I'm glad to say that it is as awe-inspiring today as ever. It' a must see and do for the stunning visuals, but also the peace and calm that permeates the space. We just sat and took it all in for 30 minutes or so wonderful moments.

 

Well we traipsed for a bit longer mostly lookking for a dinner spot. YIKES! Paris is not for those easily overcome by sticker shock. You can easily pay upwards from $30 for a hamburger from a little street restaurant. In the end we decided on a great place in a square with lots of people milling about. Again - the people watching is outstanding. Everyone is dressed up.

 Jake and Stevie share a pitcher of Sangria while Brigitte nurses a perfect red wine. She looks very happy - we should stay here in Europe on vacation :). Dinner comes and you can see by the picture that this is not the Keg or any fancy looking place but! It is without a doubt the second best steak I have ever had. (Il Terrazo blew my socks off with a perfect Rib Eye a couple years ago)The bearnaise sauce is out of ths world. I'm not just saying this because I'm on vacation - this dinner was unbelievable! Check out Briggy's cool Paris outfit. She got thumbs up and compliments from the French men all day. Sheesh garcons - tell us how you really feel!

We next visited the Latin quarter. Its a busy people filled spiderweb of streets and shops that are mostly restaurants. And it smells sooooo good! Well worth a visit to see the street performers and soak up the energy of this old world region. I spoke at length with a waiter on an extended smoke break and learned that tourism is off by about 30% this year. I told him London was busy...he offered an expletive textured comment on his view of the english. Some things never change.

We ended the evening by taking in the Eiffel tower. Hmmmm. One might say that its as good a view from a bridge on the Seine as it is up close. One might say that while it was an architectural marvel in decades past, it no longer has top billing. One might say that if they are cynical - but I am not. It is beautiful. I did not, however join the 300+ person lineup to walk up the steps of the tower or the even longer lineup to take the elevator. We headed home in a light rain that was a welcome treat from the heat we have been enduring over the past days.

 

Travelling to Paris

So we opted for the highspeed train through the chunnel (that's 20 minutes at up to 200mph in darkness) rather than the car I was going to rent the day previously. (You'll remeber that I got sandbagged on that whole plan) The train is terrific and at just over 2 hours you're barely into REM state with a full sleep drool and you're in the station.







After untangling the metro we made it to the apartment we have rented. This is someone's home (3 bedrooms) that they have rented to us for a fraction of the hotel cost (Its at least $300 a night for a hotel close to Paris) This is a bit odd - the "flat" is a real experience for us and quite different from even a modest apartment in Canada. I have to have the window open at the desk so I have somewhere to put my elbow while I type. Its not the most luxurious accomodations but we will be spending very little time here anyways.

First order of business - get some wine, cheese, a baguette and dig in. A very good bottle of wine ($4) a big thick wedge of Brie ($4) and a baguette (70cents) and we're done for dinner. We found a park and enjoyed.

We walked around enjoying the sites and sounds around the Seine - a couple shots below

And we visited a military museum where Jake looked closely at the cannons. (That's close enough Jake/ Wille Coyote)

There was a modern dance performance starting but it was a bit of a stretch for us who have become junkies for big chunks of culture...not little slices like a modern dance performance....(plus I just don't get it)

How about this shot of the Eiffel tour down river as it lights up....fantastic

And so we now headed to Party on the Champs Eylesey with the well-healed folks. What a spectacular night. The street was loaded with people talking shopping eating and drinking....all on a perfect warm summer night. The highpoint was finding that even on a street far from Seattle and dedicated to preserving French culture - there is Starbucks. Apperently there is a God.



Brigitte is clearly very happy.....





We ended the night with Starbucks in hand at the Arc de Triumph - tired, happy and enjoying the perfect mixture of today's fresh coffee  and a reminder of yesterday's sacrifices that made it possible for us to enjoy today.  



A third day in London

Well - getting a bit behind now due to the late nights and sleeping in - ahhh holidays- gotta love em. So we started our 3rd day in London where we ended our second. At the insistance of the kids we spent the first part of the day back at the museum learning more about middle eastern history and all things associated with it.

 Now completely museumed out we went in search of the holy grail of chill destinations - Soho. Soho is kind of a cross between the coolness of East Vancouver and Robson St. at the same time. It is a very cool neighborhood. We stumbled on one short street with 7 guitar shpos and a shop with just saxophones (below). Heaven on earth!



We found a coffee shop with  perfect people watching seats and just enjoyed the sites and sounds for a while. People are friendly and relaxed. Above is a picture of a square that was chalk-a-block full of people laying around talking. I'd have to say that this was my favorite part of London.


Now the plan is to rent a car and drive out to Stonehenge and watch the sun go down. However, after some discussion, I was over-ruled and by majority, we decided to hang around downtown , have dinnner and then catch a show at Picadilly. Pouting just a bit, I went along and bought tickets to Pricilla Queen of the dessert.

 Tickets purchased we went off and had a perfect dinner in a little cafe though Stevie starting get a bit crazy when she abondoned her wine glass and went straight dribnking from the bottle.

I can't express how much I enjoyed the musical. A sucker for musicals in the first place, we clapped, seat danced and laughed our way through this hilarious adaptation of the book and movie. I'm really glad we saw this. Stonehenge will likely be there for a very long time....Pricilla likely won't. Drag queens popping edgy one-liners may not always have the same draw as a bunch of rocks in a feild.....what was I thinking!

Day 2 - More London

Well how do you go all the way to London with out stopping in to see the queen. We headed directly for Buckingham palace to say hello but ynbelievablt we could't even get to the door to knock! Damn guards.Even when we explained that we were from Canada they were unprepared to be helpful. Damn royalty. Nice place though;

There were quite a few people who came to see the changing of the guard - like gazillions. It was quite a long wait for a guy like me with attension span of a ferrett with ADD but wait we did. Below are the fuzzy headed members of the band who brought in the new guard. Glad we did it

 though I do wish Lizzy had us in for a cupa.

After a nice walk through hyde park (Jack the ripper was also not around) we headed off to the Tower of London. Now this this a cool place. Started in 1066 - that's make it a really old building. There's a public veiwing square above where the moat was and we sat and ate our subway sandwiches and just looked at it.

Its easy to imagine the horror that occured within those walls if you just think about all that history you learned in high school (very little in my case) but enough to know that there we horrors significantly worse than Vancouver rush hour traffic hold ups. A site well worth visiting. Not to be mssed is the Tower bridge located just around and behind the Castle. It is astonishingly beautiful in shades of blue and remarkable architecture

It looks like something out of a chidrens book - a figment of someone's imagination. Like a cartoon or fantasy building sketched hastily on the back of a napkin at a comic drawing convension. I'm not sure why I was so struck by it - but it is indeed a thing of rare beauty. I've heard that its really something at night - but as an ADD ferrett - I wasn't waiting. Off to the British museum. Jake says we absolutely have to see that and he's right.

  We also took some time for just laying back and relaxing. The weather is perfect - around 24 degrees each day. I mean we're on holidays after all - we have to relax a bit!

The British Museum was a "stumble across" delight! Jake had said that his teacher Mr. Hughes had explicitly reccommended this stop though in truth it was not really on the radar. It was really cool!

We wondered through the place - its immense - and enjoyed particularly the Egypt exhibit (Cleopatra's mumified form is there) and all kinds of interesting bits. They finally threw us out at 6pm but we werre not yet finished and made plans to return the next day.  It is an exceptional museum and well worth the free admission!




A dryed up guy with pots....men cooked back then?



 

 Through in a visit to the original Hard Rock Cafe, A traditional Fish and Chips dinner outside on the street, A myriad of "oh my gosh - look at that" moments and that's a pretty full day. Back to the museum in the morning. Got to head to Paris soon but we'll get there when we get there. We're traipsing after all....

Brigitte's Strongbo with Fish and Chips

 

First Day in London

I'm going to start a new book series called Europe on 5 Tylenol a day. Sick sick sick!!! Ah well, better than being home and getting my workmates sick. This way I can get all of Europe sick. Definately not popular on the plane as I sneezed my way across Canada.

That said - Day 1 was about as good  a day as you can imagine. The weather is perfect and we immediately headed for downtown London. The "tube" subway is super easy to use providing access to anywhere you want to go. I'm not sure Brigitte agrees. For me, and the people from one of my favorite movies Quadraphenia, I don't need a fricken ticket. Come get me coppers!

A bit dirty, but that's what happens when you get a zillion people using the thing daily. There are a ton!!!! of people here. Downtown was rocking!

We started at Covent district which offers some of the best shopping in the world. A note on fasion - while I "get" the whole North American move to exercise gear as an easy choice, it really is nice to see people put so much effort into dressing in ultra cool gear. Men and women all look terrific. Love Europe!

We walked along looking at all the people and amazing architecrure. At one point I fell over beacuse of looking up rather than where I was going. It is breathtaking. Above are the kids and B at Trafalgar. I didn't quite get Nelson (on the top of that column in the back) in this photo, but it was coool to see the monument to his brilliance. Since my dad introduced me to reading Horatio Hornblower tales of the British Navy, I've wanted to see this. It did not dissapoint. I'm also a big fan of large social meeting areas. Lots of folks chillaxin and enjoying a perfect day.

Couldn't resist the quintesential British phone booth shot. Yours truly.
From Trafalgar you can make out Big Ben in the distance. We walked down to the Thames and headed for parliment and Westminster Abby.

From Westminster Abbey we headed to Picadilly circus. A bit dirty (quite a bit) and fairly congested but again a hang out for folks to chat and relax. Headed back to our hotel and to bed - exhausted after being up for 2 full days without sleep. No wonder Brigitte is angry with the tube people.