Locking on the canal

Lock flooding with water

Our Paris Canal Boat

And now for something completely different – today we went on a canal boat ride! Starting alongside the Musee D’Orsay the canal boat took us along the Seine River, past the Louvre and Notre Dame to Canal St-Martin. The 4.5 kilometre canal has 9 locks that raised the boat 27 metres over our journey – we’d seen locks before but actually being on a boat inside one was a new experience. The rushing water, the boat slowly rising, quite surreal.

The canal includes a 2 kilometre tunnel, lit only by skylights every few hundred metres. After 2.5 hours the canal ride ended in northern Paris. After the boat dropped us off, we started our way back, retracing our route on foot. The topside of the tunnel of the canal is home to a market, which unfortunately was closing as we arrived.

Notre Dame from the Seine

While the weather had been nice in Paris, a jacket was sometimes useful to keep out the breeze. No such luck today – they sun was blazing at 35c and there was no wind to be felt. This made the walk a bit more of a challenge that we’d anticipated! A good respite was a Parisian favourite – authentic Berthillon ice-cream. We did make it back a little browner than we’d left.

Travelling through the tunnel

Skylights

Old Train Station and Retired Orangery

Musee D'Orsay

Saturday was the Musee D’Orsay! We had twice tried to visit the museum, the first time it was closed due to a strike, and the second time it had a queue almost as big as the Louvre queue before it had even opened!

Some clever person found a pre-purchasable ticket online that allowed access to the D’Orsay and L’Orangerie museums for cheaper than normal, which also allowed us to skip the ‘no ticket pleb’ queues! We still had to wait a bit, but it wasn’t long.

The Musee D’Orsay is a modern museum in an old train station. Its awesome! No photography is allowed so I’ve pinched some pictures from elsewhere. I mainly wanted to go to see the van Gogh paintings, which were incredible, but we found many many others that were just as good. Being slightly smaller than the Louvre (hah) and a great architectural statement means its slightly less ‘artwhelming’ by which I mean you can actually look at the majority of the art before getting that glazed art overload expression where you cannot tell surrealism from impressionism.

Water lilies inside Musee L'Orangerie

From the left (south) bank of the Seine we crossed to the right (north) bank to visit its sister museum L’Orangerie. Originally an orangery (hence the name), it was converted into an art gallery which include eight massive water lilies by Claude Monet (since 1927). These are displayed in two separate oval shaped rooms, with a painting on each wall. Huge skylights let defused light into the room (as per the artists request), giving the rooms a blurred look (much like the paintings they contain). Down below there are more artworks but we were thoroughly overloaded by this point.

Once a church, three times a church

Well, today it felt like we criss-crossed most of central Paris, and we kind of did. We started off by heading just down the road from the hotel to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Notre Dame. It’s a fantastic looking building from the outside, and the stained glass windows, well, you can see why they were inspiring. 

Notre Dame exterior

The interior is quite dim, not a lot of electric lighting, and unlike in many cathedrals the stained glass is fully coloured and dark, and the windows are small. While it is an impressive building, the interior is crammed with chairs, plastic rope dividers and of course people (both Catholics and visitors). It almost felt mundane, which is probably because unlike many of the cathedrals we visited its still heavily in use.

Notre Dame interior

From one religious centre to one that three different times has been a religious centre. We walked over the bridges and headed into the Latin Quarter where the Sorbonne and other schools are (named the Latin Quarter as teachers and students used to converse in Latin) and visited the Pantheon. Originally built as a church to St Genevieve (patron saint of Paris) it’s now a mausoleum for non-war national heroes (Voltaire, Rousseau, Marie Curie etc are buried here, war heroes in Les Invalides). It’s just amazing, so well constructed, perfect size. In my opinion the most impressive thing we’ve seen this trip. The main floor has paintings, statues, and in the centre Foucaults Pendulum. Below is the mausoleum. Just incredible.

We then went and sat in the Jardin du Luxemberg (gardens) and had lunch near the Senate building (once the Palace du Luxemberg), a lovely way to spend the middle of the day. 

Palais du Luxemberg (Senate)

A walk back over the Seine to look at some shops put us near the Centre Georges Pompidou, a modern museum designed to be a centre of artistic exploration and learning for everyone – not just a painting museum. It houses the National Museum of Modern Art (Picasso etc) and is quite impressive. The clear plastic covered external escalators are quite something, as was the neon light installation...

Centre George Pompidou

Palace of the Sun King

Marble Courtyard

Today we made our first expedition using French public transport and caught the train out to Versailles (35mins journey).

Hall of Mirrors

Although there had been a small lodge onsite for centuries, King Louis XIV was responsible for the most of buildings there today. Known for his belief in absolute power, he moved the royal court to Versailles in 1682 so he could keep them all close to him (‘keep your friends close, your enemies closer’) and therefore powerless. He kept them preoccupied with his glorious palace and its many wonders. Walking through the State apartments you can see how they were won over!

The Hall of Mirrors was filled with light and everything shone, reflecting light throughout. There are hidden doors behind some of the mirrors leading to the Kings bedchamber - where French royalty conducted important state business (seriously, no innuendo). There are over 700 rooms in the palace and while you can’t see them all, we did see a lot, including the Queens study complete with hidden doors which Marie-Antoinette escaped through during the revolution.

We wandered through the massive park that surrounds the palace – nearly 800 hectares of gardens, lakes and fountains. We made our way up to the Grand Trianon (a smaller palace where King Louis XIV went to relax) and the Petit Trianon (Marie-Antoinette’s personal palace).

You can see how the French people got sick of the Kings spending while they starved. The palace is full of gold gilding, marble statues and paintings to say nothing of the furniture. As an example a single silver balustrade for the kings bedroom is recorded as costing 560,000 livres which translates to enough money to feed and provide power for about a 1,000 people for a year. Eventually the public got sick of the monarchy and revolutionaries took over Versailles, liberating all the furniture – everything in the palace is from other sites or reconstructions.

Gardens of Versailles

Big archway

Today we walked up the Champ-Elysees, 2 kilometres of some of the most expensive real estate in Europe. Lined with some very exclusive shops and restaurants, it’s a popular spot for shopping (although who can afford the prices I’m not sure).

We did stop for crepes at a café along the way and managed to escape with some money in our wallets. At the very end of the street is the Arc de Triomphe – a massive archway erected to commemorate the battles of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Like the Eiffel Tower, the lack of windows makes it hard to judge the scale of it until you are much closer. Its large enough to fly a biplane through (as they did in 1919) and certainly an impressive sight. The arch is on an unmarked 3 lane round-about where 12 roads meet (the traffic is insane) so we took the tunnel under the roads. You can actually go inside the monument but we opted to simply walk around the outside.

Tour Eiffel

Sunset over L'Defense from Eiffel Tower

This morning we had planned to go to the Museum D’Orsay (which has some famous artworks such as Van Gogh) but it was closed. We found out later it was a strike so glad we didn’t wait around!

Instead we headed across town for some shopping, passing by the Paris Opera House on the way.

That evening we made our way across Paris to the Eiffel Tower, hoping that the clouds would move off. Its sounds odd but its larger than you think – it’s not until you get closer to the tower that you realise how tall it is!

Seeing the Eiffel Tower is a little different than you expect. It’s kind of a light brown colour, almost tan. It pops into view all over different areas of Paris – you come round a corner and there it is above trees or in a gap between buildings. Whether the sky is a brilliant blue or cloudy it almost looks like a projection or a mirage, half there half not. This could be due to the colour, the fact you can see through it, or that it looks the same from nearly every angle, but its quite remarkable. At night, the golden colour is such a contrast to the day that it almost looks like a different structure. Mr Gustav Eiffel was a very clever designer.

Because we’d pre-purchased our tickets we were guaranteed entry at 9pm and were allowed up to the third level right up in the very top section (unlike the hundreds of others in the queue). After a somewhat harrowing elevator ride up one of the legs, we made it to the second level (skipping the 704 steps).

The tower was originally intended to be temporary (built for the 1889 World Fair in Paris) but they kept it when its 20 year permit expired – it worked as a good radio tower. And it kept the record for worlds highest man-made structure until 1930.

The view was awesome – because of its relatively central location and Paris being so flat, you could see the entire city.

Clint doesn’t like heights, so despite his best efforts he didn’t go higher than the second level (115 metres). (It wasn’t really the height, so much as the fact the floor started slanting at 30 degrees and was trying to throw me off, or so it seemed :P)

It began to get dark around 10pm and the tower was lit up, bathing it an amazing golden colour. It also has 20,000 flashing lights that trigger every hour, creating an incredible light show. As the sun set over Paris, I waited in the queue for the top level. I managed to get up to the top (3^rd level, 276 meters) about 11pm. This meant that it was dark all over Paris and the city was lit up making for a fantastic view.

After the queue for the lift from the top to level 2, I decided to skip the queue (so many queues!) on level 2 and take the stairs – 704 steps later I was on the ground. I think I might pay for that later… All up it took about 3 hours – 1 hour to level 2, 1 hour to level 3 and then an hour to get back down.

We wandered back to the hotel along the Seine (as you do) taking in Paris at night.

Champ de Mars from Eiffel Tower 

Champ de Mars from Eiffel Tower (Night)

Pictures, paintings, statues and more, all in a palais!

Today we visited the Louvre – assisted by a useful tip, we brought our tickets at a machine nearby rather than queuing for hours in front of the pyramid. The place is amazing.

The Louvre has been the site of a palace for a long time – in fact the first one was built back in 1190. Since then the site has been rebuilt and remodelled into the buildings there today. Underneath the galleries are the foundations of these old palaces and we walked through an exhibition on the past buildings on the site which was nestled in the moat of the 12^th century fortress.

Currently it’s built in three wings, facing onto the Grand Pyramid in the central square. I won’t ramble about the floor plan, but its huge (and not even all of it is in use for public access). You can see why the royalty of France was considered to live well.

The rooms are almost drowning in artwork, not to mention being covered in marble, frescoes, gilding, carving and decorative ironwork themselves. Simply fantastic.

One of the best parts – you can take photos!

Some of the things we saw below. I’m picking the better known ones here, with some random fun stuff thrown in, including the building.

'Winged Victory'

A less busy corridor

French Crown Jewels

Entrance Hall under Pyramid

Ceiling under a stairwell

Statues inside

'Mona Lisa'

Ancient Monkeys!

One of the painting galleries

Ramsees II

'The Captive'

'Venus de Milo (Aphrodite)'

Medieval Moat

Paris

Up early, massive five minute trip to the train station, then on the Eurostar from London to Paris.

Arrived into Gare du Nord and got a taxi to our hotel. All I can say about Paris is wow. Below is a map of where the train station was and where our hotel is in reference to some landmarks. Its a great spot. The taxi ride brought us in right past the Louvre which was cool.

Paris Map

Just some initial photos we took when walking around slack jawed on our first half day here from the Louvre, down the Jardin des Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde.

Tomorrow - The Louvre!

A Shambles and a Minster

Today we saw the city of York, famous for its cathedral York Minster. We left the hotel and drove into town, wisely leaving the car just outside the city walls (actual medieval city walls). We walked through the centre of town, passing through a medieval street known as The Shambles with overhanging timber-frame buildings, many of which date back to the 14^th century. Apparently the name comes from it’s original use (open meat market) but it feels like it should relate to the layout – a complete shambles. A number of small sweet shops, jewellery and even a market in a tiny area.

We found the cathedral of York Minster which is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe (alongside Cologne in Germany). Officially it’s The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York but is known as York Minster because a church existed here back in the Anglosaxon times. Construction of the current cathedral began back in 1220 (to replace older cathedrals) and it has undergone a few transformations since. Fortunately we were allowed to take photos inside, so there are some to enjoy.

During work to strengthen the foundations back in the 70’s, they discovered the ruins of a previous Roman buildings and the Norman cathedral (13^th century). They keep the area open and the Undercroft now serves as a permanent exhibition to these discoveries.

 

Finally we drove onto London, dodging rain the entire way. We returned our faithful rental car and Genny the GPS (both who served us well) and made it to the hotel. Back in London for one night only!

Long Wall and Tall Angel

Hadrian's Wall

Today we said goodbye to Scotland and drove south towards England. Damian had achieved his goal of having haggis which was actually quite nice (despite the ingredients).

On the way we stopped to see part of Hadrian’s Wall – the remains of the wall the Romans built to keep the Scots out of the Empire back in 122 AD. Apparently (at least according to the Scottish), the mighty Roman Empire could not tame the natives so they build a massive wall to keep the Empire safe.

About 120km long and between 5-6 metres tall, it stretched across the entire width of the British Isles with forts dotted along for extra defence. We went to one such fort called Vercovicium (near modern day Housesteads) where the ruins are still visible and open to the public. We were allowed to freely walk around the ruins which include signs of underfloor heating and drainage. Despite being left open to the harsh weather of northern Britain, the fort was still very visible with the various rooms and buildings it once contained.

Ruins of the Roman Fort

The wall itself was still very much intact, dividing the landscape off into the distance. You can walk along the wall and we did see lots of ramblers annoying the cows as they walked through the fields.

We headed further south, passing through Newcastle on our way to York. We passed nearby the Angel of the North - a massive steel sculpture 20 metres tall and 54 metres across. Unfortunately we passed too fast to get a decent photo - I've borrowed one so you can see what I'm talking about. Pretty impressive.

Angel of the North (not our photo)

Gothic Rocket, Thistle & Whisky

Sir Walter Scott Monument

Today we revisited Calton Hill for some more photos, then moved down to the shopping area. Despite the lines of shops we didn’t find anything much to buy. We did pass the monumental (pun intended) tribute to Sir Walter Scott which dominates the area – a dark victorian gothic four-pointed tower which Bill Bryson has described it as looking like a "gothic rocket ship". You can climb the stairs inside the towers but we decided to pass on the 287 steps.

Crests of Order of the Thistle (not our photo)

We crossed what was once a loch, to the hill that Edinburgh Castle is on. St Giles High Kirk is a church partway up the Royal Mile towards the castle. Inside is the Royal Chapel of the Order of the Thistle (Scotland’s order of chivalry). While tiny, this chapel contains the most exquisitely carved crests of each member. We didn’t pay for permission to take photos but I downloaded an image so you get the idea.

Scotch Whisky Collection

We made our way back up the hill to the Scotch Whisky Experience – 1.5 hours of Scottish Whisky education and some drinking! Other than spelling whisky without an e, Scotch Whisky is different to Irish in that it tends to be smokier (due to the traditional smoking processes) than its Irish cousin. Because this tour wasn’t linked to a specific distillery it was more general and impartial. The highlight of the tour is the Diageo Claive Vidiz Collection with 3,500 different Scotch whisky bottles including some modelled as chess pieces and golf caddies.