Paris Day 2: The Orsay & Montmarte

Today we started out at the Orsay Museum. Last visit, Jill stood in line a couple times but ran out of time and didn't see it. I've been to this one on every Paris visit, making this my fourth time - but still - well worth it. Seeing the Impessionists is always a highlight - Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne...oh my! It was fantastic.

We walked around the left bank a bit and had an Italian lunch - paninis - which we got to go and found a quiet little square to eat in. It was a big sandwich too! They don't mess around.

From there, we headed to Montmarte for another guided walk - we called it "our lesson" :) It was well-done as was the first; we walked the area that all of the Orsay artists we'd just seen actually lived and worked. It was a happy accident that we did things in things in this order. The tour ended up at Sacre Coeur where we grabbed a drink and a snack (in the form of crepe #2) before heading home for a respite...and a quiet night. Again, we walked for eons and despite having a goal of going out, after a breather we just couldn't quite make it!



















Art, food, art, food....

Paris Day 1: Walking 'til we dropped!

Our first day in Paris we went to Notre Dame in the morning, and then walked around some of the surrounding areas before grabbing our first crepe on Ile Saint-Louis. From there, we opted to take a walking tour of the Marais - our neighborhood. We liked the guided tour in London, so we went with the sister company, Paris Walks. The tour covered the colorful Marais - including the Jewish history here (not pretty) and their resilience; how the French government has acted and continue to act as pawn broker for its people; as well as some simple little tidbits of interest. We sampled some amazing falafel, Jill busted out not one but two lactaid and we shared a slice of Eastern European cheesecake (whoa! yum!).

From there, we bummed around the Marais a bit more and grabbed a simple dinner at a tapas place, located on a square housing a dance school. From our spot, we watch a flamenco class which was quite fun! We walked a load today - 8 miles or so...and are pooped! It was a great first day in Paris, a little overcast, not too hot and easy to get around.
























Lots of photos in no particular order!

London to Paris: Proof that money cannot buy happiness...

So, in an attempt to have a seamless travel day, I opted to pay for a cab to Heathrow, and then to our Paris apartment after landing at Charles De Galle. The cab in London was $80, and that was ok with me! We'd had a rough time on transit getting there...so, we had our final English breakfast, did a load of laundry down the way, hit a fantastic local, organic fancy-pants grocery - and then headed to Heathrow. This part went great!

In Heathrow, Jill found her first Makers Mark since we left. It was heaven for her, and she had one while I had another cider (new addiction, to be curbed by my lapband being switched back 'on' when I get back). Our flight was ok but we were seated separately. Earlier in the trip, Jill at one point turned to me as we boarded a plane and said, "Awesome! There's a baby on this flight too!" - well, the baby from London to Paris took the cake. And Jill was sittin' just behind her. Oy! She screamed for the bulk of the hour flight...

Arrival in Paris proved challenging as we could not (it seemed) find a legitimate cabbie, and settled on a car service that seemed ok. Well, we got gouged in the end but what can you do? There were two of them, they had all our bags...so we paid about $30 over what is normal. It was painful, but a good lesson. We're going to do better getting back!

On top of that, while on the eternal, hot, cab ride we phoned the apartment manager who said "Oh, I have to put you in a different apartment..." and immediately I thought, "oh my god - I got the bait'n'switch that you read about everywhere" when you book one apartment, and show up to find a dump. So, there we were - perhaps the lowpoint of our trip - sitting in a hot, stinky cab in horrific traffic, being ripped off by cabbies and finding out we may be staying in a pit. Good times. We felt like we were getting it from all angles...

So, we show up and the apartment is a couple blocks further out than the first, lacks a bathtub - but, is bigger, and still well-located enough on a nice street with a few restaurants, shops and grocery stores. Since I paused, the dude said, "I will give you zee free night, madam, for the trouble..." - I thought, well, there's a break - finally. So, we schelped up the zillion stairs to our loft apartment, which is pretty nice - and settled in. We rounded out the night with a quick trip to the grocery, a drink out, and a simple dinner at home. Lesson learned: Even when you try to make travel easier by kickin' money at it, still, things just happen. But we knew this already, no? Alas...not our favorite day; though, we're psyched to be in Paris!!







Laundry, high-end grocery in London where you never need to guess where you're meat came from; groceries and a drink in Paris. Phew!

London: Last Day

Despite waking up to a gorgeous day, we started indoors with the National Gallery Museum after breakfast - though we enjoyed the weather as we walked there down the Mall, arriving just after the 10 a.m. opening. Featured here is really a fantastic range of art - sadly, the Impressionist rooms were closed, so we'll have to wait for Paris to see more of some of my favorites (Picasso, Van Gogh, Chagall...). That said, we still saw an amazing batch of art - including Caraveggio, Vermeer, Renoir and some unfinished Michelangelo works - giving some very interesting insight into how he worked and his artistic process.

Next we headed to Brick Lane in the East End. Here we splurged for what was a relatively simple Bangledeshi buffet for lunch (tipping the wallet at $60 for what is about $20 in Fremont!) However, the experience was great - our server - an Arab fellow studying hospitality in London - had worked 12 years at an American company in Dubai, so he quite fancied us (of course, asking "Did you leave your husbands home?"...to which I said, "Yes." Still, he slipped us business cards and it seemed he fancied Jill, as he put his cell number on hers...). The food was great, somewhat reminiscent of Udupi Palace in Seattle which serves up South Indian food; however, this had a good lot of meat. They pretty much only eat lamb and chicken at these places; beef is too costly and being that most are Muslim, they eschew pork. Always happy to eat lamb, there were no complaints coming from our table :)

Rest time took place in the late afternoon before heading out for our final dinner here. Despite our initial thoughts of eating a nicer dinner in each city, we opted to attempt to stay on budget and do something simple after a walking tour. Now, I know, tours are at times kinda lame, but we did a THE COVENT GARDEN PUB WALK (Off-piste in Gas-Lit London) that was riddled with history, drinks, and some of the remaining several hundred gaslights in London mostly in the Covent Garden neighborhood. We met some nice people (having the tour centered around a couple pub stops forces some interaction, which we wanted and found nice). From there - since it ended at 10 p.m. - we did a grab'n'go last run of fish'n'chips before hitting they hay.




















Shots outside the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square; Brick Lane...food, spices, atmosphere; London Walk - pub, gaslight, Oscar Wilde sculpture..and I found the one pink taxi in London, and got the driver to smile for me! :)

London: Tate, Tooting & Billy Elliot

Whoa, it got chilly! Today was gray and cool, which was actually quite welcome after yesterday's sun and heat - so we started out by walking the whole way to the Tate Modern Museum, about 3 miles from our hotel. I warned Jill of a long walk, and well, I didn't lie :) We spent quite a bit of time at the Tate, as last year when I visited the permanent exhibit portion on the 5th floor was closed, so there was a lot new for me to see, and lots on the 3rd floor to revisit.

Next, we walked across the Millennium Bridge over to "The City" - mainly the financial district where we walked past all of the PIB's toward London Bridge, which gives a nice view of the Tower Bridge (the one that Americans typically think of as London Bridge, myself included...doh!). We headed into the Southwark (that's "suth-ick") neighborhood and stopped for a drink and snack. Here, we decided to go to Tooting - touted as the "new Brick Lane" for good curries and Indian food overall, we hopped the tube and arrived in relatively short order.

Here, we found a whole other London: A definite ethnic, Muslim neighborhood with a variety of ethnic foods, shops and people. We were both happy to step out of the touristy hub-bub of the core of the city to this clearly working-class 'hood. It was worth the trip, and it refreshed us both to see a different angle of London. Because we had tickets to see Billy Elliot (which I'd seen a year ago...and thought Jill would enjoy) we had to eat too early to really sit and enjoy the recommended eateries. However, we made do with cheap (re: $30) Indian 'fast-food' which was good enough before heading back for the show.

It was enjoyable, though I was reminded that the seats in that theater are horrible! Jill liked it, I liked it a lot too - but in retrospect should've picked something new for us to see together. Ah well, it was nice to just sit and stare - we'd had two long touristy days - one sun-baked - so the evening of 'rest' - just sitting and being entertained - was nice!












A few stolen shots at the Tate Modern; London sights along the way (Big Ben, The Eye...which we didn't end up riding due to crappy visibility, particularly when weighed against the cost); our trip to Tooting; and finally, a few shots of Billy Elliot's encore.