Paris (the city)

I still cannot believe that I am here, in Paris, the city of lights/love! It seems so surreal!

Here are the iPhone snaps from the past two weeks. 

There has been a lot of pastry eating which makes me SMILE!

Maddy Matt and I went for a wander to Bastille (it seemed fitting considering Bastille day was only a week away).

We then went to meet Alex at his work (in Montmartre) which involved walking past the Moulin Rouge ...

and Café des Deux Moulins (where Amélie works).

It has been boarded up but it supposed to open again soon (maybe not before I leave for my bus trip but hopefully before I go to Switzerland). Apparently it is as popular with locals as it is with tourists ... sounds well worth a visit if that is the case!

This is where Van Gogh lived when he stayed with his brother Theo ... it is just around the corner from Ally's office (:O!)

This is the painting of his view from their 3rd floor apartment. (Source)

This is the view from Ally's work.

We then went to the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, which is stunning. However, the hill and steps leading up to it are full of gypsies and pickpockets and people trying to sell plastic figures of the Eiffel Tower for four euros etc etc ... so that was a little stressful. But well worth it!

From behind. It is built from a special "self-cleaning" stone; when it rains heavily the dark surface gets "washed" away and uncovers the beautiful white stone underneath. 

Paris. Just, y'know ... hanging out. Maddy and Alex live to the far left of this picture.

Before we picnicked on the hill beneath the Sacré-Coeur Maddy and I went for a wander through the streets above and behind which are heaving with artists selling their paintings, or doing caricatures and portraits for the hoards of tourists. We pushed our way through the crowds, turned down a side street, and lo and behold ... there it was. 

Yes, I understand it's not the most brilliant of pictures. But it shows my very first view of the Eiffel Tower. And it was so exciting. I love that something so iconic could "sneak up on me" like that. 

Maddy with a "Wallace Fountain" - one of many gifted to the city of Paris by the englishman, Richard Wallace so as to provide fresh clean drinking water to everyone. The water falls as a trickle from the top, and the gaps are only wide enough for your hand to fit through, which stops the water from being contaminated. This one shows the four caryatids, representing kindness, simplicity, charity and sobriety.

The next evening after she finished work, Maddy and I went to Notre Dame. We were there just as the evening service started (the choir was beautiful, but we weren't so sure about their choice of organ piece - it was very 'the end is nigh'-ish). 

Again, sorry about the quality of the photo - there are so many more beautiful pictures to be found online - these are more for a memory jog for myself :)

On the way home we passed the Hôtel de Ville (the town hall). 

Ever so slightly different to what I'm used to ...

This was Maddy's belated birthday cake (spicy apple). It doesn't look particularly appealing but it was DELICIOUS (if I do say so myself :P). The cake is really moist but with a crunchy shell. It had gone by the next day.

The next evening we all (Maddy Ally and I) went to the Institut du Monde Arabe. We had a look at the permanent collection, which has mosaics, tapestries, calligraphy and ceramics. Maddy had just studied these in Spain, so she was a wealth of knowledge :)

Part of the view from the rooftop (Notre Dame is out of the frame but to the left).

The windows of the building are a piece of art in themselves. 

Thousands of mushrabiyah (or mouche-arabies - photo-electrically sensitive apertures built into the glass walls) are opened and closed by electric motors in order to regulate the amount of light and heat that reach inside. 

The design is inspired by traditional latticed-wood windows that let you see out without being seen.

Each of the windows has a different combination of patterns, but the overall feel is symmetrical and very effective.

I made a spinach tuna lemon feta quiche for dinner.

It too was eaten pretty quickly. Sorry about the appalling photography - who knew taking photos of food was such an art?? :P

Maddy and I spent a rainy morning wandering round the newly vamped Bercy village. It was lots of fun to go into the artsy/foody stores and look at all the pretty and weird and clever things - some of them very inspiring, some that left us going "Why?? Who would ever use this???"

Midnight escapades to see the full moon.

Yes I am in my PJs. Maddy got home late and said that the moon was worth getting up for. I agreed.

More baking. Gemma brownies. Not so nice without the coconut, but walnuts do a fair job.

On Bastille day (14th July) we had every intention of being at the parade at 10am. However, at quarter to 11 we were still getting ready, and then, much to our surprise and delight, we heard the first set of jets roar past. We rushed to the bedroom window and could not believe how close they were! So instead of fighting through the crowds we got to watch the flyover from our bedroom window - the flight path was literally across the houses across the street. It was very exciting. There may have been squealing. Ally took photos but I haven't had a chance to steal them yet. 

We did then head in to the parade, but the crowds were intense so we didn't see much. Maddy and I amused ourselves by ogling the pretty men in uniforms (all of whom were on their cellphones which was slightly surreal - we decided they were ringing their lingerie model girlfriends to organise a rendezvous :P)

That night we had a typically french picnic (baguette, camembert, tomatoes etc) on the banks of the Seine, watching the world go by, before heading to a concert at La Sainte Chapelle.

The quality of this isn't very good but it gives you an idea of the sheer extravagance and enormity of this church. The queues during the day to see the glass are upwards of 2 hours long, but there were only about 30 people there to see the Clarinet Quintet performance, which was wonderful for us. 

After the concert we made our way to the banks of the river by the Eiffel Tower for the fireworks show. The crowds on the streets and down in the metro were ridiculous!

Pretty lights! The fireworks were INCREDIBLE!! They went for a solid 35 minutes and were so exciting. I was enjoying them too much to take photos - sorry! They had a new heart-shaped one that I had never seen before - but, as always, the golden showers of sparkles/rain were my favourite. 

The next day Maddy and I went to Château de Vincennes - my very first castle! :D

The chapel here is based on La Sainte Chapelle, so it was really nice to get the opportunity to compare the two in such quick succession. We thought that the lighter stone made the space seem more open and peaceful - but naturally the glass work is much more impressive at La Sainte Chapelle.

View from the Keep looking at the main residence.

The chapel viewed from the Keep.

The Keep itself - proud colours flying!

That night we went to see the final installment of Harry Potter. Oh wow. It was the most entertaining two hours of my life! I could not believe how badly they had butchered it - I felt like they went totally over the top and that by trying to make it so serious they ended up crossing over into ridiculous. Maddy and I had a big ranty debrief while walking through Bercy park afterwards :)

After a week or two away I began to miss Swedish cuisine, so with the help of the internet, I tried my own hand at it!

Swedish meatballs with the special gravy, steamed potatoes and spinach.

And kanelbullar - cinnamon rolls! Yummy yummy yummy!

That night we went to the opera.

The Opera! In Paris!! I felt so ridiculously grown up! The building is the most beautiful, most grand, most extravagant place I have ever been! And we only paid ten euros for our seats! (Admittedly we couldn't see much, but it was worth it for the atmosphere and experience alone!)

The next day Joris arrived from Holland, where he had been for a couple of weeks with his family. We went to the local restaurant for dinner - it was delicious!! I tried snails!!! They were chewier than I expected, but a brilliant vessel to get the oily garlicky deliciousness to my mouth. The guys who run it are really friendly and recognise us from across the street, which is nice! Unfortunately, when your french (like mine) is limited to "oui" and "merci", it makes it a little more difficult to communicate :S Apparently they were impressed by my pronunciation though :D

On Monday Joris and I caught the metro and bus out to the town where Maddy works so that we could have lunch with her. Line 6 (the one that runs from Maddy and Alex's house) follows the old city wall, so a lot of the journey is above ground, and you get a fantastic view of the Eiffel Tower :)

After lunch we decided to head to La Defense - the commercial centre of Paris (even though it is technically outside of Paris). There are some very severe height restrictions within the city limits (read no skyscrapers allowed!), so instead they have built them all just outside the city - in line with monuments such as the Arc de Triomphe, Concorde, and the Louvre. 

Source

We tried to find the tram to catch to La Defense, but after some fruitless wandering we decided to walk. We followed the river and a mixture of road signs and eventually emerged in the centre of the area. We were blown away. Oh my goodness it is HUGE! We weren't expecting the scale of it at all!

Source

It was a very weird sensation having just come from a little town, and followed a twisty-uphill-windy-down stairs-round corners-up escalators-through archways path to emerge in the centre of this.

After a culture shock such as this we then decided to go and visit the monument that the Grande Arche at La Defense is based on.

The Arc de Triomphe! As you can see, the weather has been fabulous! :P So much for a hot european summer! 

We decided not to fight through the crowds/traffic to climb it so we just admired it from the metro stop, then had a lovely stroll down the Champs-Élysées towards Concorde.

We ended up picnicking under another great monument ...

which really needs no introduction. This is the clearest the sky got all day :(

The next day rained - and our plans to visit the Catacombs were obviously also the plans for the entire tourist population of Paris. Seeing as we were in a line that stretched for over an hour past closing time we decided to leave that wee activity for next time. 

We went for a walk that night to see a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower lit up from the bridge across the Seine just down the road. This is a view of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The four glass towers (costing a cool two billion euros) are shaped like half-open books and are 79 metres high. There is a forest courtyard in the middle where 140 fifty year old pines have been trucked in from the countryside. As you approach from the bridge you only see the tops of them, making the sight of looking down into the courtyard pretty breathtaking.

We joined Ally's free walking tour of Paris on Wednesday and had a really great time. Lots of Paris, lots of history, lots of laughs. Ally is an excellent raconteur, and proves he is worthy of his history degree at every turn :)

The Louvre.

We came back that evening to take advantage of the late night. The lines were considerably smaller than what we had seen earlier that day, but it was still pretty crowded. Not to name drop or anything ... but we did happen to get a sneaky peek of the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo :D ... as well as the crown jewels and Napoleon III's apartments. But for me the highlight was the gallery itself. It was incredible. I could have explored it all day.

Recognise this?? Who would have thought a picture of Banks Peninsula would be on display outside the Louvre??? Not me!!!

Next post-tour stop was the Arms Museum, and Napoleon's tomb

Pretty impressive. I noticed a student with a sketchbook sitting inside. Being an arts student or art history student or history student in Paris must be awesome.

The final takedown of quiche number 2.

Yesterday, as Maddy had the day off, she Alex and I went out to Chartres (about an hours train ride away - first double-decker inter-city train ride for me! Woo hoooo!) to see a pretty incredible sight.

Again, the quality of these photos is shocking. If you want more representative photos of the cathedral go here.

The detail they went into, and the apparent delicacy of something as strong and permanent as stone continues to baffle me.

I'm not going to lie - the climb up the millions of stairs (slight exaggeration) was tough on both my legs and my fear response - bit it was so unbelievably worth it. 

This just can't capture what it felt and looked like up there. It honestly was, despite (or perhaps, because of) my fright (ha it rhymes), the highlight (oh I need to stop!! :P) of my trip so far.

Once we had climbed back down we had a bite of lunch and some chocolate milk (in bottles!!!) at the base of the cathedral.

Then we went for a wander through the incredibly picturesque town. 

We saw some amazing buildings, more churches, and a lovely park which the river ran through, where we watched ducks and coots be fed by a family, and the subsequent battle for resources that played out. It was a wonderful day.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy - love to all!

xxox