New Year's Day

Headed out to Momartre first thing.  Took a ride on the Momartrain around the village and the Pigalle where they have all the "toy" shops. You know what kind of toys I mean.

After being dropped back outside the Sacre Coeur,  we walked around looking at the artists for a bit, before a very nice late lunch at a place called La Boheme.

In the evening we went back to the Brasserie near the hotel and enjoyed Grand Marnier crepes which the waiter set on fire for us. I wasn't  expecting this and didn't  manage to get my tablet out of my bag to takr a photo until the flames had gone out.  We had a few cocktails as well before crashing for the night.

New Year's Eve

Crepes for breakfast this morning, then off to  the Arc de Triomphe again in the daylight this time.  After much queueing (even with our prepurcased tickets) we finally got to the entrance to the stairs where the attendant took one look at us and asked if we needed the lift. No no, we said - we can walk.  What were we thinking!  89 metres up a spiral staircase later we emerged inside the top of the monument where the gift shop was, puffing and blowing. 

There were a couple more floors of stairs to get out onto the top of the monument,  but the views were worth it. 

We had a late lunch in (would you believe it) a Caffe Concerto, that we found underground in the Louvre ticket hall.  We headed back to the hotel for a couple of hours rest, before heading out to the boats for our midnight cruise.   Got some lovely photos of the views from the Seine at night and watched the Eifel Tower light display and some fireworks before taking the metro back to the hotel.

Wandering Paris

Today we took the Metro over to the Louvre and walked along the banks of the Seine checking out the famous sites like the Trocodero and Hotel de Ville.

Eventually, we reached the Ile de la Cite.  The queue for tickets at Notre Dame was far too long, so we ended up going to the Consiergerie instead.

The Consiergerie was originally part of the Palais de la Cite, a royal palace for French kings in the 10th to 14th centuries.  During the revolution it was turned into a prison and Marie Antionette and Robespiere were both imprisoned here prior to their executions.

After that, we had a late lunch in a very nice Bistro called Le Renard, where they made excellent mojitos.

We tried to go to the Arc de Triomphe, but it was getting dark by this time. So  we just took some photos of the lights  on the Champs Elyse instead and we'll do the Arc tomorrow.  

There's a very nice bistro right next to our hotel so we had a few drinks in there later in the evening. 

Arrived in Paris

After an overnight flight from Ottawa where I got no sleep at all thanks to screaming kids, we landed in Charles de Gaulle at 6.30am local time.  We took the train from the airport to Gare du Nord, where our hotel is.  It was much too early for our room to be ready, so we dropped our cases off at the hotel and went exploring.  

We headed over to the big Galleries Lafayette department store, which has an amazing stained glass dome. 

We also checked out their gourmet food section and bought a few gifts.

After that we walked around a bit and found our way to the Opera, but the building undergoing restoration,  so this is the best shot I could get.

Stopped for lunch at a Brioche D'Oree.  Then walked to the Louvre (didn't go in though). Some nice views outside, including the Arc de Triomphe de Caroussel, which is the little brother of the more famous Arc de Triomphe de L'Etiole.

By this time we reckoned our room would be ready, so we headed back to Gare du Nord and managed to check in. We were both absolutely knackered, having had no sleep on the flight and we promptly fell asleep and didn't wake up until mid evening.   We're still too tired to go out, so our "supper" has been some of the jaffa cakes that Becky was given for Christmas.  We'll start eating the gourmet  French cuisine tomorrow.....

Off to Paris for the New Year

 Check in here for updateson my New Year's trip

Last day of the Holiday

Tomorrow we head for Heathrow,  so today was our last full day in London.   

We started the day with a visit to the Royal Mail Postal Museum.  

Not a lot of people know that there is a second underground network in London.  This second network was built by the Post Office and used much narrower gauge trains to transport the mail across London between various sorting offices.  It was used from 1927 until 2003. 

These days some of the trains have been refurbished to carry people (although you need to be pretty short) and a ticket to the museum includes a ride on the "mail rail". 

After that we went to Leicester Square and had a nice meal at an Italian restaurant  before going to the movies to see Tron Ares.   We are now back at the hotel repacking ready for tomorrow morning. 

Catch up and Lots of Churches

It's  been a few days without an entry, but not much was going on.  Saturday was our last day in Edinburgh and we spent it mostly shopping and having a nice meal at a place called the  Copper  Still.  We didn't want to over tire ourselves as we had a long day of travel ahead of us on Sunday.

On Sunday morning we took the train from Waverley back to London.  We arrived in London in the late afternoon and had just enough time to go shopping in Fortnums and have an evening meal at Cafe Concerto.

Yesterday was our first full day in London and we got around. We started by doing a walking tour of "hidden London ", which included visits to a lot of Christopher Wren's churches.  

The photo above is of a "sword rest" in one of the churches,  where the men could store their swords during the service.  

This church is known as the wedding cake church, as the baker who baked the very first tiered wedding cake copied the idea from the church tower.

After the walking tour we ended up near St Paul's cathedral and decided to go in there. It's been many years since I last visited St Paul's and I had forgotten how Byzantine the decorations inside the dome were. We also went to the crypt to see the tombs of Nelson and Wellington,  amongst others.  No photography is allowed in the cathedral though so I'm afraid I have no pictures for you.  

We finished off the afternoon with a visit to the ruins of yet another  Wren church: St Dunstans.  After the church was destroyed during the bombings of WW2,  it was decided not to  rebuild it, but to turn it into a garden instead, and it's very beautiful. 

St Dunstans is right next to the Walkie talkie.

We finished off our first full day in London having dinner with our niece,  Alex and getting to see her new flat.  Tomorrow is the last full day of our trip and we will be flying back to North America on Wednesday.