Paris - Wednesday

Forgot to mention that we called into one of the big department stores, Galeries  Lafayette, to look around. They have the most impressive dome roof and circular galleries below.



Tuesday 30th:


While most of Paris is low rise, there are parts that are “modern” and high. I’m  sure they are practical, but from our perspective as tourists, they are ugly. One of these, the Montparnasse Tower, is certainly better looking out than in, particularly on the terrace on the 59th floor. What a view over Paris. The ordered way Paris is laid out is obvious. Although it was hazy (and cooler), we could see most of the main Paris attractions. It was much more spectacular than we expected and we found it difficult to stop gazing and leave.


We then took the Metro to a station, Stalingrad, which was near the Canal St  Martin. There are a few canals in Paris and they, as well as the Seine, are still used to transport goods on big barges. We watched a boat go down through a double lock and then headed off along the canal edge towards home (at least that was the intention). The thinking person would figure that water flows down hill and that this canal flows into the Seine, which, 100s of kms away (near Honfleur actually), flows into the sea. The fact that the boat went down through the locks didn’t jog the thought process enough, and we set off heading upstream. After walking for half an hour, it dawned on the person who thought he knew where we were going and we turned around. We did, however, see a bridge that was raised by a big pulley wheel in each corner, built in the 1800s and another section of the Paris Plage, with water activities (pedal boats, dodgem boats, flying fox across the canal etc) for kids.






For those who don’t need their privacy, relief was at hand.




















Wed 31st:
Walked to Place de la Bastille this morning. G had a nails appointment and R walked along the canal (surprised?), to where it meets the Seine, and back again. Some interesting boats and another lock.
Took the Metro to Montmartre and walked up to Sacre Coeur. It’s a modern basilica compared to most of the others we’ve seen, but still impressive because of its domed interior – one big dome with a balcony all the way around inside and one outside. Didn’t climb this one. Seen one seen them all!? Battled very aggressive men trying to put bracelets on wrists and then demanding that you pay for them. Had to be rude to get them away. Saw many young girls give in, then argue. Must have been a bit frightening for them.


Walked along a couple of metro stops and saw the Moulin Rouge building – looks a bit tired  during the day but must look better at night. Bit of a seedy area, lots of sex shops, live shows and x rated films.

Back home with a nice pastry to have with coffee.
Nice relatively cool day today, mid to high 20s. Mid 30s tomorrow and high 30s on Friday.
Looking out the window at the moment. Clear, bright blue sky (8:30pm), clear view to the horizon with no obvious air pollution.

Paris - Monday

Sitting gazing out the window of the apartment, looking at a sky that is blue with fluffy white and grey clouds with the sun shining on the buildings for as far as we can see, sun bouncing off the dome of Sacre Coeur in Montmartre in the distance, I wonder whether we should write a blog, have a glass of wine or both. Glass of wine is a given, so it looks like both. Back in a few minutes.
Sunday 28th:



We walked around Le Marais & Bastille areas this morning, loosely following a walk suggested in a book we brought with us, “Walking Paris, the best of the city”. This took us past the Hotel Sully, built in the early 17 century as a private home and is now the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, the caretaker of France’s national treasures.





Past the Hotel Sully is a spectacular square, the Place des Vosges, which was built  between 1605 and 1612. It is said to be the most perfect square in Paris, with beautiful 17th century town houses (Victor Hugo lived in one of them), manicured trees and a very popular public space.


On to Place Bastille, where the Bastille, a fortified prison, was stormed on July 14, 1789. The prison’s former footprint is marked in cobblestones. Big market on the day with all sorts of edible delicacies and other foods as well as clothes and other useful, and not so useful, stuff. Bought 10 avocados for 1 euro. Only had to throw 1 out.
Passed by the Musee (should have an accent on the first e, but don’t know how to do that) Carnavalet, a museum for the history of Paris. Will return in the next few days to go inside. On past the Archives Nationales, which exhibits priceless documents and artifacts from France’s past and down to the Seine. On the way, we saw the regular Sunday roller blade crowd pass by along one of the main roads beside the river. There seemed to be several hundred of them in a group. The road is closed to traffic to allow the roller bladers a very fast run. Police were on duty to ensure the way was clear for them and then to open the road to vehicles again. There were even police roller blading with them.



Every summer for the last number of years (how’s that for a very accurate time frame?), one of the roads beside the Seine River is closed to vehicles and the “Paris Plage” becomes a very well used “beach”. There are deck chairs, umbrellas, people who shouldn’t be sunbaking in public and people who look good sunbaking.




Back “home” for baguette, cheese, avocado, ham & wine for dinner, having had a nice felafel on a restaurant on the way.
Monday 29th:



Took the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe. Climbed the narrow, steep circular stairs to the top and had a great view over Paris. Watched the traffic entering, leaving and going around, with 12 roads radiating out from the centre. All very civilised, traffic in the intersection has to   give way to traffic entering.










Lunch in a small but very popular park beside a church. A little peace & relaxation in the middle of the busy city.
Walked along the main shopping street, then Metro back to near Le Marais and walked back home, picking up a pastry to go with coffee (still Carte Noir) and food for dinner.
Just had to mostly close the windows to keep the heavy rain from splashing in. For the last 3 nights, there have been short storms with heavy rain, enough to cool the air and make it much more comfortable. Rain has almost stopped now (after 5 mins), and the horizon is incredibly clear.

Paris – Le Marais

Friday 26th:

After managing to stuff everything into our bags, we went into the centre of  Orleans by tram. The tram stop was right outside the hotel. The cathedral was enormous and at the end of the main street into town. The (usually) picturesque area of town is a construction site as the main square is being paved. Many streets lead into the square and the corner buildings are very attractive.

Back to the hotel to collect the car and psyche ourselves up for the entry to Paris. Took 2 hours partly on the main national road and partly on the motorway.

Thank goodness that we were told that the car return was in through a petrol station to a car park. The GPS got us there, but there was no indication that we had to go into the garage. Very slow traffic into Paris, but the peripherique moved well. Only missed one turn once we got off the peripherique. We were sorry to hand the Clio back, it was a great car – over 1000km / tank, and less than 5 l/100km. Travelled just under 3,500 km, aircon on all the time.  Metro station close to the car drop off point, so we tried to put aside our paranoia about pick pockets on the train and set off, changing trains once and arrived at St Pauls Metro, a couple of minutes from the apartment. The owner has an antique teddy bear shop a couple of doors away, so we called in there  and were taken up to the apartment. I don’t think it is possible to find a smaller lift anywhere. 2 people and a suitcase  was all that would fit at one time. Apartment is very compact, (20 sq m), bed is a couch that slides into a double, dormer windows set into roof, so plenty of head hitting opportunities, tiny kitchen with small fridge, microwave, 2 hotplate cooktop and sink, separate toilet/basin and a shower past the kitchen, but a great little place.  Fortunately there is a portable airconditioner in the apartment, ‘cos it is still very hot and quite humid.

 

 

Saturday 27th:

Big storm last night. Had to close windows because of the heavy rain.

We must have been tired, ‘cos we slept in. Good views from our windows over the rooftops and down to adjacent streets. Couple across the road had what they thought was a private dinner outside on their tiny balcony. Didn’t know we were watching. Had a lazy morning reading and planning, small exploration around the closest streets, had lunch “at home”. Found the local Laundromat only a few minutes away. Until you travel, you don’t realise how you take clothes washing for granted.  30degrees today, so we also had a slow afternoon, after the washing, and recovered a bit. Planned the rest of our time here, but will have to rejig a bit ‘cos Friday is forecasted to be 40 degrees. Overnight lows in the mid 20s.

Good luck for school on Monday J&J. Sorry we missed you in  Paris.

Orleans

Wednesday 24th:
How easy it is to get side tracked. We were not far out of Brive, passing through Terrasson-Lavilledieu which is another attractive town with a 12th century medieval bridge, old town and impressive cathedral (no lock though). Just so happened that there was a car park right beside the road, tourist info less than 50 metres away and a river on the other side of the car park with the old bridge close by. Lots of manicured hedges/gardens. Well, there went another hour or so that we hadn’t planned. Although we hadn’t planned on driving far today, we had planned to visit some particular villages/sites/sights, so we had to begin culling early on in the day.
One attraction that we could not miss was the Lascaux II caves. Lascaux II is a copy of the most significant part of the original caves with paintings 17,000 years old. The repro caves are supposed to be accurate to within 1 cm and the paintings have been replicated using similar methods and pigments. The vividness and colours of the original paintings are just as bright as the replicas. The original cave was closed to the public once the impact of visitors’ breathing was realised and the copies built so the public could still “see” them. The paintings were of horses, bulls, deer and other animals and the original artists took advantage of the lumps & bumps of the cave walls and roof to give many of the animals a 3D effect. No photos allowed, so you’ll have to take our word for it.



On to La Roque St-Christophe to see the Trogladyte settlement, first settled  50,000 years ago. It has been continuously lived in until the start of the Renaissance, modified to suit the requirements of the inhabitants of the time and by the tools they had.






Didn’t have time to go to this place or the other place, but detoured via Uzerche because it seemed like a good idea.  Had a walk around….., you guessed it, the old town and then set off to Limoges for the night, less than 100 kms away from Brive.




Thursday 25th:



Spent most of the morning looking around Limoges, admiring the porcelain but not buying any  and, dare I say the daily hunt for and walk around, the old town.























Detoured to Saint-Leonard de Noblat to visit the Moulin du Got, an old paper mill/printing works. The mill was built in the 15th century to make paper and operated until it was closed down in the middle of the 20th century. It had become uneconomic and the building was going to be pulled down, but the locals objected and it now belongs to the town of Saint Leonard. It is back in operation, but electrically powered, although the water wheel still turns for effect. Paper is made for special occasions such as invitations, paper for artists, special certificates etc. The printing works has a collection of old printing presses, a linotype machine and a Heidelberg printing machine, all of which work and are used for specific tasks. We filled in time before the mill opened after lunch by walking around the ………… . Do I really need to spell it out?


Leaving there at about 4 pm, with about 290 kms to go to Orleans for the night, we took the motorway & toll road, at 130 km/h, to save time.
We return the car tomorrow in Paris, so we have emptied it into our room tonight and now have to try & fit everything into our bags again so we can manage them on the Paris metro to the 20 sq m apartment on the 6th floor. Wish us luck.

Brive again

Monday 22 July:


We left J&J’s house in Montreal du Gers with some regret, but also looking forward to travelling on and exploring more of France. Having passed by so many fields of sunflowers, we had to stop for a photo.










In the quest for looking for bridges, we saw one on a side of the road that had been closed to both vehicles and pedestrians. Followed an overgrown track ‘til we found the bridge. Almost looks like a cable stayed suspension bridge. Lots of ornate steel. Pity this attractive bridge is not in use.





We drove through Montauban, a large town, and what do you know, eagle eyes saw a sign to the port. Yes, another lock (staircase) and a marina. A boat on a French canal is an option for another trip. The French canal boats are much wider than the UK narrowboats and usually have the controls inside the boat and another set outside on the upper deck.



We stopped for the night at Cahors, which must be one of the few towns with very few hotels and these proved hard to find. Ended up in a very tranquil hotel/restaurant about 5 kms out of town, with farmland on 2 sides. Dinner & breakfast outside under the awning.

Tuesday 23 July:

Spent most of the morning looking around Cahors. We’ve now seen 3 of the 5 of  Les Ponts Remarquables au Sud de la France (The Remarkable Bridges of Southern France). Yes, another bridge here, the Pont Valentré. It is a medieval bridge built between 1306 and 1380. It was classified as a historical monument in 1840. There were 3 bridges that originally crossed the canyon of Cahors, but this is the only one that survived. Another lock, this one is under the bridge.


















We visited the impressive 12th century Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Cahors and its beautiful cloisters.












On the road again, to Najac, a stunning hilltop village built in the 13th & 14th centuries.  A short, very steep and very hot walk (about 32 degrees today) took us to the chateau/fortress that was built and extended between the 12th and 13th centuries. One part, the square tower, was built in the 11th century.







By the time we’d finished there it was about 4:30 pm and  we has a 2 hour drive to Brive and the hotel we booked last night. It was comforting to know that we could take our time during the day knowing we had somewhere for the night. We did save a bit of time by using the tollway (half an hour at 130 kmh helped).


Ready for bed and another full day tomorrow.

Montreal du Gers – last time

Thursday 18th:

Went driving through more small villages and the colourful countryside. Lots of bright yellow fields – sunflowers are almost in full bloom and they are packed closely together.

 

 

Found a double lock near by, so had to have a look.

 

 

 

 

 

Another great concert tonight, a string orchestra with about 15 members including a cello and double bass. Great sounds reverberating around the church. Pizza and wine again at the restaurant we went to last week and listened to a smooth jazz band with a guest pianist from New York.

Friday 9th:

Friends of J&J from Australia called in this morning, they have a house in Nerac, about half an hour away. Lunch at a restaurant in the Montreal village square then drove to Agen, a big town, looking for house stuff and experiencing more busy traffic.

Saturday 20th:

Spent most of the day at J&Js house in Sos, cleaning and generally giving the house a bit of a spruce up, tidying it up ready for potential buyers. Went to dinner with 4 others in the large village of Nerac. Beautiful food imaginatively presented.

Sunday 21st:

Back to Nerac, to the trash & treasure market, looking for a chair and something to keep pigeons away. Bought some old cds in the hope that the birds don’t like them on the window sill. Lunch under the awning, very warm. Outside temp about 36 degrees. Lazy afternoon reading & watching Tour de France highlights & waiting for the final ride into Paris late this afternoon from Versailles.

We leave here tomorrow morning (Monday), heading slowly back to Paris, due there on Friday. It’s been great staying here with J&J and sightseeing from this base.

Thanks again to Montreal du Gers Office du Tourisme WiFi.

Montreal du Gers and around

Friday night (12th):
Good concert in the church. Spectacular Cellist, only 14 years old. Piano pieces played well and sound reverberated around the church well, but some from a modern composer and not overly smooth to listen to. Went to a restaurant beside the church for pizza and wine and great band playing mostly 70s & 80s stuff, nice & loud. We had a table closest to the band. Leader was very good at including the audience. Late night.
Saturday 13th:



Went into Nerac, a nearby town, to a market, to buy some fresh fruit & vegies and to look around. Just happened to have a river and boats to investigate. Had a lazy afternoon reading and relaxing.




Had dinner at a restaurant in the village square, about 1 min walk from the house,  and spent the rest of the night listening to great jazz under a cloister type of arcade outside the restaurant. The audience managed to keep the band on for an extra 15 mins or so. Left when the band packed up around 12:15am. Owner may have had a little tipple or was a big extrovert, because she spent quite a lot of time dancing and clowning around in front of the band. We had the front table again.
Sunday 14th:
Went to an antique/flea market at Fources, not far away. It seems to be customary to enter past a temporary bar and pick up a glass (plastic cup) of wine and nibbles.
On to La Romieu to have a look at the Collegiate (defined as a church having or  having had a chapter of Canons) of Saint Pierre. Built between 1312 and 1318. Impressive cloisters and a great bell tower. It is one of the very few churches where you can get into the ceiling space of the church and see what is on the other side of the huge curved arched ceilings and see the other side of the vaulted ceiling keystones.
Dinner, big brass band (yes, more music) and fireworks, nice that they put this celebration on for our wedding anniversary. Co-incidentally, they also celebrated Bastille day.
Monday 15th:



Went back to Nerac (told you that there was a river there) to ride on a traditionally styled boat up the river and through a lock. Most locks in France are automatic, put a key in and it all happens, unlike the locks in UK where all is manual.






















Lunch in Agen and a look around a big town with modern and old parts. Found a long large  stone aqueduct to walk over. Only a small motor boat came along. Very hot, 32 degrees.









On to a very pretty town called Auvillar, with a beautiful market square. Good  coffee. Nice looking suspension bridge in the valley below.



Back home via another attractive village, Lectoure, with a night market. J&J bought a large framed mirror for the house. We were in our Clio with not much room, so the mirror was right across the floor in the back taking up leg space.
Tuesday 16th:
On the road to see The Bridge. Actually it is a viaduct.



 
On the way we stopped in Albi to  visit the Henri Toulouse-Lautrec museum and see the huge brick cathedral. Bit mind boggling, such a big, old building built of brick. Another really impressive cathedral with very ornate fittings, frescos and painted ceilings. The H T-L museum was originally a palace from the 1300s and had a well manicured formal garden.






Eventually got to the Millau Viaduct around 5pm. What a structure! Looks great in  photos, but even better in real life. Drove across it and stopped at the visitor’s centre to have a closer look. Long steep path up to a great vantage point, looking over the whole viaduct. On to Rodez for the night. Big day. John drove.

Wednesday 17th:




Spent the morning looking around Rodez. Big paving upgrade works and new museum being  built. Followed a map with a couple of suggested walks thorough the old part of town. Old cathedral has some modern stained glass windows, some donated by WW2 prisoners of war.


















Left Rodez and headed home via Cordes-sur-Ciel, a very attractive but touristy hilltop  village. Drove right into the centre of the village (we’re still not sure whether we were supposed to or not, there were no other cars), but ended up driving part way down the hill to find parking.








Next stop was Cologne with its old market square and old buildings surrounding it. Was originally a fortified town. Another attractive village.



Back home about 8pm. Another long day. Nice to be passengers and look at the scenery. No concert tonight.
Thursday morning 18th:
Reading, blogging, jobs around the house (can hear a drill in the next room as prints get hung on the wall). Next job to plane the bottom of a door, climb into the attic to see how to prevent pigeons sitting on the window ledge and doing what they need to do. They can go somewhere else.
Concert in a church in nearby village tonight and hopefully another band outside the same restaurant we went to last Friday.