They were delicious! Yum. I’m going to try this at home.
Carousel, walking back to apartment.
Centre Pompidou
Nestled in the centre of Paris since 1977, the Centre Pompidou building, a glass and metal structure bathed in light, resembles a heart fed by monumental arteries in bright primary colors.Right in our apartment’s neighborhood. Centre Pompidou envisioned by its two architects, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, as a genuinely living organism, was built in one of the capital’s oldest districts and the beating heart of Paris since Medieval times, the Beaubourg plateau.
So, I never saw the Bacon or Rothko here, but we were lucky enough to see, Picasso. Endlessly drawing. This exhibition was organized to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso. It highlights the most prolific part of his creative output. From pure lines to intricate compositions, from the delicate nuances of pastel to the deep blacks of ink, he explored every possibility of drawing. I don’t think I have seen as many works by one artist, in one place, ever. His genius is revealed through nearly 1,000 drawings and prints, exploring the many facets of the artist’s imagination.
Portrait de Francoise, 1946Portrait de Paloma, 1952
The Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre and Tour Eiffel at night from the fifth floor of the Pompidou as we were leaving.
A very interesting day. And a break for you—not too many pictures today.
Another neighborhood bookstore. Walked passed this one when I went out for my morning café au lait.
On today’s agenda was the Palace of Versailles. Taking the metro. It started out easy . . .
Erika in the metro. We are catching the 1 train, switching at Le Defense Grande Arch to the L. The L will then take us to Versailles. The metro is very clean.
So, we get on the 1 train, no problem. Alex had given Erika a iledeFrance mobilities—navigo easy pass. I purchased a one-day pass in the station. We get to our stop, La Defense Grande Arch. So far, so good. We exit the 1 train platform.
Now our troubles start . . . ; ). It turns out Erika’s pass is only good in Paris (which we didn’t know) and I guess we had left the city limits (which we didn’t realize) and the L train is a different line (which we did kinda realize). I enter the L train platform expecting Erika to be right behind me and voila, Erika’s pass is denied entry onto the L platform. Sounds easy. Erika thinking her pass has run out of funds goes to the ticket machine and proceeds to reload her card. Again, sounds easy. She is denied entry a second time. Erika starts the process of reloading the card again. I’m on the other side of the turnstile. Watching, waiting. After being denied entry the third time, Erika does what any self respecting east coast, transit savvy American would do, she goes through the turnstile with the man in front of her. I’m still watching. Immediately upon entering, an undercover metro policeman comes up to us . . . I think you can figure most out from here. Talking to. Fine. Purchase correct ticket. I try to take a picture of this and get a proper scolding. I was laughing so hard, I think he was thinking of fining me.
We finally make it to Versailles. Exit the turnstile no problem.
Erika’s mug shot. ; ) And the cost for her to get here is now up to ~$100.
We have a leisurely 15 minute walk to the palace. It’s lovely! Weather nice. Town charming. Tons of markets, butchers and bakers along the way.
He was very funny. Pretending to take a picture of us as we took a picture of his shop. Repeating this for everyone.
Final mile to the palace. All stills seems good.
We made it!
Phase II of our interesting day.
We get in line—a long one. After about 15 minutes, I ask the man behind me, “how has the line been moving?” He lets me know that his timed ticket was for 12:30PM and since it is now almost 1PM, he says, “not very good.” I then ask a few other people if they all have tickets and it turns out that they do. We are in the wrong line.
I ask the Palace of Versailles security woman (plenty of security) what line should we be in. She directs us to another line.
We stand in our second line for about ten minutes and start to realize once again that this is the wrong line—another timed ticket line.
We finally get in the correct line. We are in line for about 15 – 20 minutes, now five or ten deep from purchasing our tickets. We notice lots more security and now police and even the green beret authorities are now present. They are kinda rushing around at this point talking in walkie-talkies, pacing back and forth—to and fro. Erika and I say to each other, I wonder if something is going on?
We are practically next in line to purchase our tickets and they start evacuating the palace, gardens and entire property. There must be two or three thousand people heading towards the entrance now being used as an exit.
This picture doesn’t do the evacuation justice. The front property of the palace is massive. The authorities handled it well. (I can’t load Erika’s video here because I don’t pay for that service.)
Don’t worry though, we are now safe and sound back in our apartment. Gonna call it a day. Phew, what a day it was. And we learned on the metro ride back that there had been a bomb scare. Apparently the second in three days. Luckily it was not and no one was hurt. Kudos again to the authorities
Tomorrow we are hoping for less interesting. George Pompidou Center in the morning and croissant/pain au chocolat baking class in the afternoon. Both within walking distance of the apartment.
Signing out for today. Miss you all, but having a great time. Next week to Mike’s!!
Started the day with Erika, my niece, and my future niece-in-law. A wonderful start—delicious pastries and the sweetest young women to enjoy them with. Alex, our French connection, goes between English and French flawlessly. And she treated us to some of her favorite pastries.
Let the journey begin. Our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower—it looked so close.
The beginning of our walk in search of the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Musee d’Orsay, Musee du Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries and its carrousel and Punch and Judy puppet show. A walking tour day.
Closer.
Closer.
In the meantime . . . We walked by the Musee d’Orsay.The love locks.The Louvre.Place de las Concorde and rugby village.
Still can’t believe we haven’t reached the Eiffel Tower yet!
This stunning bride and groom during their photo shoot.
(Alex, I know you are going to make the most sophisticated, elegant bride! Looking forward to April 2024.)
We made it!!
The Eiffel Tower at last! And it never disappoints.
Dinner this evening. L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon—St. Germain. Alex’s suggestion. Perfect. Two bars meet around the central kitchen where the dishes are prepared under our watchful gaze. Caviar on smoked salmon (the best), king crab ravioli, sucking lamb chops, scallops and Joel Robuchon mashed potatoes. Pouilly-Fuisse and one glass for me, Le Virou Vieilles Vignes (hopefully I spelled all that correctly). Nearly one of the best meals I have ever had.
The end of our gastronomic feast. We just experienced the most wonderful relationship between food and culture.
Preview of upcoming events, stay tuned: Versailles, croissant baking class, Musee d’Orsay and Centre Pompidou. And trying to fit in an opera. Please let us know if you have any suggestions!!
PS the Arc de Triomphe and Jardin des Tuileries carrousel are closed for renovations.
Another terrific day. London, St. Pancras International Station to Paris, Gare du Nord Station. Easy, 2 1/2 hours tops. I absolutely love this city. Paris has a thousand faces and so many ways to discover it. My favorite might be Paris by neighborhood. Tomorrow brunch with friends and discovery.
Traveling from London to Paris is simple, smart, and speedy. Go direct from city centre to city centre in just 2hrs 16mins. Eurostar from London to Paris is the only way to travel.So, this is where we are staying. Great lactation—two blocks from Norte Dame.Beautiful Parisian building not far from our apartment.Our front door for the next week.Selfie!So, we were stretching our legs and immediately came across Notre Dame. Our apartment is in the shadow of this magnificent cathedral.Still surrounding by scaffolding, but beautiful nonetheless! Construction originally began in 1163. The fire in 2019 caused massive damage. Norte Dame’s fire-damaged roof is being rebuilt using medieval techniques. The cathedral remains closed and is set to possibly reopen in late 2024.Scaffolding around Notre Dame.We are also within a short distance of my favorite bookstore. I stop by every time I am in Paris.
Today, my travels took me by Uber, ferry and foot. I have walked no less than seven or eight miles per day since I arrived in London. Phew. The weather has cooperated for the most part. Today was museum day and was also supposed to include the National Gallery, but there was a lot of activity in Trafalgar Square for the Pro-Palestine protests so we opted to skip. I’m a tad disappointed but totally understand.
10AM meeting my guide at the Tate Britain. At Tate Britain we saw works by David Hockney, Henri Matisse, Henry Moore, John Singer Sargent, Joseph Mallord William Turner and his exquisite self portrait, John Constable and Mark Rothko, who I love. What a glorious morning.
Tate Britain, A picture perfect morningWe took the water taxi from the Tate Britain to the Tate Modern on the other side of the River Thames.Tate Modern.
My guide, Tere. A very knowledgeable artist and art historian. She made the two museums manageable and exciting for me.
The day continued to be terrific and exciting at Tate Modern. Here we saw works by Pablo Picasso, Jenny Holzer, Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Eileen Agar. Gosh, so many; too many to mention!
These are pictures taken during my walk back to the hotel. It was such a beautiful afternoon, I decided to walk the just over three miles. Almost the entire walk was along the River Thames.
A very cool and large book market.
A London carousel. Seems like every city I visit has a carousel. Stay tuned for Paris.Very cool skate park. Wish I had been able to capture more action photos.I loved this! A wall almost a half mile in length dedicated to memories of time during COVID lockdown.Big Ben and Westminster at dusk.Modern London at dusk.London Eye at dusk. I didn’t go on.Ok, so I got caught in a brief shower, but look at the beautiful rainbow as a result. Totally worth it!Finally made it into my hotel’s neighborhood.The very interesting bridge spanning the River Thames is in the neighborhood I am staying. It is the Albert Bridge, connecting Chelsea on the north and Battersea on the south. Very beautiful at dusk.Would you drink water from here? Not me!So, yesterday I showed you my white house block. Well, here are a couple of red house blocks. All beautiful.And finally, a red and white house block. All were beautiful and lavish too.
Off to Paris tomorrow. Eurostar—can’t wait. And I am looking forward to seeing my niece, Erika! Stay tuned; next stop, Paris.
I spent all morning at Windsor Castle. All afternoon walking around my neighborhood—The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. I had a great time. The day started out raining, but while I was viewing Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House it stopped. The afternoon was fairly sunny and breezy. At Windsor we got to see Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House, State Apartments—lots of rooms, Treasures of the Castle, St. George’s Chapel and Semi-State Rooms.
* Note: no photography allowed inside most of the buildings.
**Today’s journey had me traveling by foot, Uber, bus and Underground.
Windsor Castle today—Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire including two building complexes, or courts, separated by a circular tower. There is almost a millennium of architectural history here. This was our entrance to Windsor Great Park. I think through this arch is what is referred to as the Middle Ward.The Round Tower. It is in the Middle Ward separating the Upper Ward from the Lower Ward.Part of the Lower Ward of Windsor Castle (one of its oldest remaining parts, although the conical roof is a 19th century addition), the Curfew Tower is famous because its dungeons were used to keep the prisoners. The upper story contains the castle bells and clock.Views from inside Windsor Great Park while walking around. Stunning.
More views.
A bronze equestrian statue of King Charles II on horseback sits in the Upper Ward of Windsor Castle beneath the castle’s Round Tower. This bronze statue is next to the South Wing entrance.
The lower ward includes St. George’s Chapel. Prince Harry of Wales and Meghan Markle, and Princess Eugenia of York and Jack Brooksbank are among those who were married here. Hope I got their names/titles correct. ; )
I think I am technically in South Kensington. It is a great neighborhood to walk around, sit in a cafe, people watch and grab a bite to eat.
This is the white block in my neighborhood.
One beautiful white home after another.
My go to grocery store in the neighborhood. It is kinda like a Trader Joe’s. It was nice! And convenient.
Hey, if anyone wants to fact check me here, please do so. I feel like today was a tad jumbled and confusing at Windsor Castle. My guide was disorganized and I am still a bit jet lagged.
Definitely tomorrow, more book stores and bakeries!
I actually had tea and scones and smoked salmon moscovite. Sorry, I ate the scone before I remembered to take the picture. The smoke salmon moscovite was out-of-this-world delicious. YUM! And I think I am a freshly baked, still warm, jam first and clotted cream on top scone person. And you?
On my walk to The Ritz, I passed lots of parking spaces with plug in capability. And FYI, if you want a good cup of coffee, you have to go Italian. Caffe Nero is my personal choice here and in Ireland.
I also passed many neighborhood book stores and bakeries. Geez, why don’t we have more of these? So, everyday I will be adding some pictures of these great bookstores and bakeries. I promise to only have one sweet per day!
I walked passed Harrods and a bit passed The Ritz because I wanted to stop in at Fortnum & Mason. I wanted to buy some tea for Mike. I had really wanted to have high tea here, but they are booked until after Christmas!
Fortnum & Mason below,
Too early for wine. Next time
Halloween and fall themed chocolate bar. Everything was beautiful. I only bought a few pieces. : )
So today’s journey had me on foot and taking advantage of The London Underground, their rapid transit system. I love taking public transportation along my travels. It gives me a sense of real, local life.
I made it back to the hotel. Another great day; a tad drizzly, but great. I don’t know why I don’t bring some kind of hair gel on my trips. My hair tames pretty easily—I’m buying hair product tomorrow!
PS My HP, Paris friend is sick and couldn’t make it. So, my first week of this trip and my last week will be solo. All the other weeks I have family or friends joining me.
PPS Some local nuances and similarities,
The London Underground = rapid transit system
Sitting for an exam = taking an exam (overheard some students)
I’m going to scoot off = goodbye/see you later
I don’t think they say cheerio anymore—or so I have been told.
Bloody = incredulous or anger
Boot = car trunk (I had no idea what my taxi driver was talking about)
Smarmy = untrustworthy or scheming
Cheeky = impolite
Bollywood = umbrella (it drizzled today, so I heard a lot)
Whinge = moan, complain (I overheard some talking about Prince Harry and they kept saying that he is a whinger)
Daft cow = silly or stupid person
Splash out = spending significant money on a particular item (trying not to do this!)
British people still seems a tad more reserved to me.
Brits say, have = we say, take
Word pronunciation is different.
Driving on the left! Makes me crazy. So, they drive on the left, kinda walk on the left, but all the Underground escalator signs say to stand on the right—go figure. 🤦♀️😏
They have lots of American brands: Starbucks, Ray-Ban, Gap, Aveda, Hallmark, Nike and North Face — I’ve seen these so far.
Well, that’s about it for me this evening. Go Phillies!!
PPPS My digs for the next few days below. It’s nice. South Kensington has lots of elegant properties, semi-pedestrianised roads, lots of shops and cafes and on the Piccadilly Underground line—it’s pink on most maps. Creating a Parisian feel (getting me ready for my next stop!).
I’m off again. This trip will include London, Paris, Tbilisi, Istanbul, Bruges and Edinburgh. I’m traveling with Cora’s smiley bracelet. 😊
Settling into my pod. I ended up watching a British comedy-drama, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I thought it was good—take control of your dreams, your own life by choosing to live it to the fullest.
My first stop is London. Second stop, Paris—Erika, my niece, will be joining me in Paris. Third stop, Tbilisi. I can’t wait to see Mike!
Hello, London. Touchdown at 9AM London time.
Lots of iconic London pictures. I was sure that if I stopped walking, I would fall asleep.
So. Much. Shopping. Wish I had more time!
Iconic Red Phone Booth. These are actually all over the city—photo ops.
London’s cherry red double-decker bus is practically a national symbol.
Victoria and Albert Museum. One of the largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design.
Wellington Arch. It was originally intended as an outer entrance to Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Artillery Memorial—a First World War memorial located on Hyde Park Corner.
The Mall. Victoria Memorial.
Buckingham Palace. And the balcony!
Buckingham Palace and the famous balcony. Where the heck was everyone? Didn’t they get the memo that I was in town?
The horse posed for me.
Twice! He likes me. ; )
Churchill statue.
Westminster Abbey. So many coronations. So many weddings.
Big Ben up close—the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster.
Most of the Palace of Westminster in its full glory.St. James’ Park. They are all so beautiful!
I am so tired. Trying to keep up. Hopefully I will get better as the vacation progresses.
Today’s travels were by plane and foot. I’m walking; I’m walking.
On this trip, I have officially travelled by: plane, train, bus, boat, bike, taxi and Uber.
Last morning in Spiddal–taken out our front door. It was cloudy, but no rain and 48 degrees. Not too bad overall.Seaside resort of Salthill, Galway. This traditional holiday spot overlooking Galway Bay is close to the shops, pubs and clubs. If you want easy access to beaches and savor the vibrant and energetic atmosphere of the City of the Tribes this is the place.Is Salthill Beach the Jones Beach of Ireland? You vote.Tomorrow morning, 7AM, bus to Dublin airport.Parting drink with Mike before we depart. : (
Ok, now for my bad news. Mike’s assignment for next year is Georgia–the country, not the U.S. state. Southwestern Asia, bordering the Black Sea, between Turkey and Russia, with a sliver of land north of the Caucasus Mountains extending into Europe; Georgia views itself as part of Europe; geopolitically, it can be classified as falling within Europe, the Middle East, or both.
Poland lost its funding. Too westernized. Darn! : (
Mike will be located in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Anyone up for Paris, Istanbul and Tbilisi in late September/early October?? Might be one of my last overseas trips.
Dream to Travel from NCM 