Sunday, May 17, 2009

France

France


My first glimpse of France just on day break was the remains of an old Roman aqueduct. Just amazing, the sort of thing I’ve only seen in books, it flashed by and I hope that I might just get to see more as we trip round northern France later in the week. We arrived at the Paris Central train station at 10am – 30 minutes later than scheduled. We had booked a hotel on the internet so knew exactly where to head to. A very helpful information desk person who spoke English and sold us a 3 day Metro pass along with a free map and directions. All got used continuously for the next 3 days. Coming up from the underground to find our hotel I couldn’t believe the houses/apartments. All built around the late 1800’s I felt that I had stepped back in time.
This was just the beginning of a sensory overload that continues for the next 3 days. The hotel itself was built in Art Deco style and on entering I was so impressed. We were too early to be able to check in so left our bags and headed off with our map expecting to be back in a couple of hours. Well!!!
Heading back into town as we wanted to sort out a rental car for Thursday we then decided to walk and eat. We had been advised to get a couple of streets back off the main roads and we should be able to eat for a reasonable cost. This proved to be the case so then it was off to the Bastille Monument and since it was overcast we then headed to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Not sure why one chooses to visit cemetery’s while on holiday but it’s not my first and I’m sure it won’t be my last. This one had many elaborate tombs and family plots. Lots of visitor’s and even a map with the famous burial sites marked. Well the general direction of them anyway and it then became a game of who could find it first with often several couples were all looking for the same one. Some were very obvious like Oscar Wilde’s which was covered in impressions of lips with red lipstick, every colour imaginable. Chopin was really had to find but along with an American couple we did find it and then there was Jim Morrison’s and Edith Piaf, 2 different extremes of the music world. The monuments to the people lost in the concentration camps were the most moving. 4 hours later I managed to prise Ron away and we headed to our hotel room.
There was a circular staircase going up the 7 flights and in recent times a lift had been installed in the middle of it. It was a 2 person or 1 person and luggage. You went in frontwards and then had to back out when it reached your floor. The room was equally amazing and looked out over more of those late 1800’s apartments.
Tuesday morning we headed off on foot to the Arc de Troiopmphe which was only 20 minutes away but a wrong turning took meant it took us twice that time. But as Ron says when you get lost you just see more and he’s right. We found the most amazing Boulevard of gardens. We did get to the Arc de Troiopmphe and decided against going up as the weather was not that good and the visibility poor so it was down the Champs Elysees. Shops to die for, all modern and much like any city of the world. All the way to the Palace and across the Alexandra III bridge with 4 pillars topped with gold statues. Mind was definitely heading into sensory overload big time by now, every way one looked there was another statue or magnificent building to look at. We also got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower hiding in the clouds. Down along the west bank where there are lots of antique booths beside the River Seine. We had been recommended to visit the Museum d’Osay but the queues outside were incredible and so we just carried on.
Next stop the Notre Dame once again lots of people but all moving through at a reasonable pace. I’ve seen many big churches and there is definitely sameness about them but there is also an amazing feeling when you realize that people have been worshipping in the same place for hundreds of years, 1163 in this case and it’s build on top of an existing church of that time. Below the Notre Dame is an archeological dig giving the history of early Paris which goes back to Roman times.
When we came out of the Notre Dame the sun was shining and the sky clear for the first time and again we had been told that should this happen then get up the Eiffel Tower so always taking good advise?? This is what we did. Again we were confronted with queues this time about 2 hours to go up in the lifts. I waited while Ron when to check out the situation and he came back with “there’s no one waiting to go up the stairs”, so off we go to climb the stairs telling ourselves that it will be good training for our planned walk along Hadrian’s Wall next week. 700 steps later with a couple of rests along the way we have reached the second level about 150 metres off the ground. Here this is only 3 people in front of us to purchase tickets to the very top. The only way there is via a lift. I thought the view from the 2nd level was amazing but it was nothing compared to the view from the top, 360 degrees and as far as the eye could see. Just incredible especially for one who is not good with heights and can still remember not being able to climb the ladder to the top of the lighthouse at Cape Reinga as a child. There were moments in the glass lift when I wondered if I’d be able to get out and enjoy the view but I did.
That night we had decided to treat ourselves to a show partly due to the fact that we had a less 50% voucher with our Metro Passes. Having eaten cheese and baguette for dinner we dressed in our glad rags and headed back to the Champs Elysees to the Lido. We had a table and bottle of champagne for the 9.30pm show. Once again just incredible. The costumes where so colourful and the many topless dancers will have Ron grinning for weeks. Many of the songs were in French but it didn’t matter the show was so professional and had such variety that it didn’t matter. There were acrobats, a horse, and ice skating just to name a few. Then it was back on the Metro to the hotel. Another interesting fact that at 11.30pm the trains were still running every 5 minutes on the 2 lines we had to travel on. What can happen when there are so many people.
We had put aside our last day to visit the Lovure and wanting to avoid the queues were lined up with many others 30 minutes before it opened at 9am. We headed in and followed the masses to the Mona Lisa and then realized that to really appreciate the place we need to know a bit more about the art it houses so back to the entrance for an audio tour handset. This was great and with it we managed to see as many great pieces of art/sculpture as we could absorb. Again I was amazed at the age of then with pieces from 100 AD and even one tablet that was 4000 years old. Again sensory overload kicked in at a different level, the building itself which was a royal palace in the 1600’s and has been a museum since 1793 which is 25 years since Cook discovered NZ. The ceilings were very elaborate in room after room. After 5 hours we couldn’t absorb anything more and so headed out for some fresh air and headed for another church!! The Sacre Coeur which is only 200 years old a baby compared to everything else we have seen to date. It is build on a hill and the mosaics are incredible the roof in particular. Here they were very strict about the use of cameras which was nice and means I’ve purchased a post card of the ceiling.
Below the church is the area of Montmartre a famous area for artists with very narrow streets. It started to rain as we were leaving and after stopping to purchase a turquoise handbag I seen from the tourist train trip we’d taken. There was thunder lighting and a very upset artist running in the rain with a bundle of cardboard wrapped works in her arms swearing as she was running. We decided that we weren’t in a hurry and took shelter in a bar ordering a cup of coffee. The heavens then opened up and it poured and poured for about half an hour. 2 cups of coffee later and a great discussion with the swearing artist who turned out to be American but she had been living in Paris for 20 years painting for a living. She had gotten soaked getting home but apparently her paintings weren’t damaged but she had lost power so decided on a drink till the rain stopped.
Once the rain stopped we headed on our way again walking past the Moulin Rouge famous for its near naked girl’s shows since 1889 then back on the metro to the hotel again. We were exhausted in total sensory overload and wishing we had another week to spend in Paris.
Our next adventure was to pick up a rental car and try and get ourselves out of Paris. We had chosen a location on the outskirts of the city and took a taxi there. The taxi driver had problems finding the place even with the GPS as there were so many tunnels. We had hoped to be able to hire a GPS with the car but they didn’t have any at that branch and also didn’t have any maps provided with the car. The assistant drew us a map and we headed off to join the Tomtom brigade. We had seen these working with both Angela and Lex and thought that they were a great tool. Now it was going to be a necessity. We found the mall all 5 stories of it and the store to purchase a Tomtom, GPS system also a small map of France so I could get the general idea of where I was going. Thank goodness for the map as we couldn’t start the system in the bowels of an underground car park. We got outside and found the first spot to park illegally while we punched in where we wanted to go. The topic of the Bayeux Tapestry had come up while in the Louve and checking the internet I realised it wasn’t that far from where Ron wanted to go. Him being interested in history he already knew about this nearly 1000 year old piece of embroidery it depicts the history behind the battle of Hastings in 1066 fought in Battle. I’ve already been taken to Battle in a previous trip to the UK. The work is amazing at 68.3 metres long and the majority of it in very good condition it was incredible to see. The town of Bayeux is also amazing with many the buildings being 1600’s and we have found a B&B which is 1800’s The Tomtom did it job well except when there was an accident and the motorway was closed for a time but we worked that out. Also what was amazing was that we were asked if we wanted to pay tolls and said yes, we paid 6 lots of tolls in 250kms varying from €2.70 to €5.70 just to use the motorways. Interesting but as we had wanted the quickest way as it had taken so long to sort ourselves out before getting on the road out of Paris.
The next day it was off to battlefields starting off with one of the WWII D-Day Beaches, Arromanches-les-Bains, the remains of the temporary mulberry harbour are still visible. Next on the list was Harfleur where the British soldiers came ashore and started the fight that ended up in Azincourt 1415, Crecy where there was a battle between the English and the French in 1345, next was Azincourt where the British won, the museum was interesting. By this time we were hungry and tried the local restaurant for a meal, they didn’t start serving till 7pm and since we still had to find accommodation we decided to head for a bigger town. We selected a restaurant in Tomtom and started driving. After 15 minutes we realized that we past where we thought we would stop but as we saw nothing else that resembled a place to eat we kept driving. We ended up with the most amazing French meal and they even managed to find great accommodation for us round the corner. People have been really helpful even though most speak very little English.
Last day in France it was off to Dunkirk which I did find interesting. I had no idea that 380,000 soldiers were evacuated by ships and boats of every shape and size, there were also 140,000 French soldiers evacuated also. Then it back to Lille to return the rental car and catch the Eurostar to London, a quick 1 ½ hours trip through the tunnel and we were there.

Germany

Germany

Monday it was off to Germany to stay with my friend Angela, we have been friends since we were both exchange students in the US, Idaho in the 70’s. Staying with Angela is like being in a whirlwind, she is so organized and seems to have thought of everything for you to do that matches exactly to your interests. Working as a dermatologist in her own practice she had organized to have all of Wednesday off and managed to get the Bismarck Museum opened for us. It is currently closed I suspect due to lack of funds. Then she had also organized for a guided tour in English of the Bismarck trust building.
These are both located in Fredrichsruh and are short distance from each other but run completely different organizations. The trust is government funded and a very professional display while the museum is owned by the descendants of Bismarck and quite run down. The young man who was our guide was very knowledgeable he and Ron had a lively discussion regarding mostly German history as Bismarck was responsible for the unification of Germany in the late 1800’s. After our tour it was off to the butterfly house owned by the great granddaughter of Bismarck which was fabulous. Many butterflies and moths which I have never seen before with colours that were just amazing.
Then to finish off she took us to another historic town, Luneburg to view the many old buildings returning home about 8pm. Thursday she had the morning off so had decided to drive us 2 hours to Schwerin to visit the castle which turned out to be one of the most important ones in Germany. The Parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania still meet in the building today. Built in 1845 it was definitely impressive and actually the first German castle I have been into. It also has a really large baroque garden which was impressive in itself without the fact that the National German Garden Show was being held there as well. With only 2 hours to visit both we really didn’t do the Garden Show justice but what we saw was just incredible. Due to the fact that the show is open for the whole summer there weren’t too many people. The colours of the flowers, mostly tulips and pansy’s were just amazing. Set in bands of different colours it seemed that everywhere you looked was better than the previous view.
Saturday Angela had organised for us to meet her father and his partner Sabina. This is great as we had heard so much about him, a retired college professor he was very knowledgeable about Germany in general and particularly the local area. Northern Germany is very close to sea level and there are several layers of dykes to keep out the sea. The one closest to the water is 8.5m high and quite impressive. We were taken to a historic farm house for lunch which was built with all the humans and animals living under one roof. With spaces for 20 horses and only 10 cows the farm was originally a large wheat farm. There was room to thresh and store all the grain under cover also. The whole house had been build on a mound which was apparently hand built to keep the building safe from floods. Seems to have worked as the building complete with thatched roof is still intact. The original living quarters are now a lovely restaurant with the rest of the animal area set aside as a museum.
We then headed to Haithbu which is a museum and re-created Viking village. They have found and recovered an old Viking boat which is on display in the museum along with many roman artifacts found in the area. There were a large collection of stone weights from spindles for spinning wool along with the weights used to tension the warp on the looms. Several fragments of garments were on display also.
When we arrived in the village there was only 15 minutes to go till closing time and we were feeling that we were going to be a bit rushed. The staff were all in re-created costumes and carrying out the crafts of the time, weaving, making lace from fine metal wire and working with deer antler. When we started talking to them they were all volunteers and had made their own costumes true to what was worn at the time and as they were staying the night in the huts were in no hurry to leave. We talked to them for nearly an hour after closing time. I found it really interesting talking to the woman who was making the metal lace. This was used to adorn the garments. She was working in either silver or brass as she couldn’t afford gold and the work looked like Celtic rope work but at between .5cm and 3 cm wide strips it was amazing. Very time consuming to do and as far as she was aware she is the only person who is doing this sort of work and has worked out how to recreate these adornments from fragments that have been found.
Then it was off to dinner to visit some more friends of Angela’s. They had an amazing view of the sea and stunning garden. Very lively discussion followed dinner. Sunday it was off to Kiel to see the monument to the marines who had lost their lives in both the 1st and 2nd world wars. Completed just before the 2nd world war it remained undamaged although Kiel itself was very heavily bombed. There was also a German WWII submarine to take a look at. Not really my cup of tea but when one is travelling with a history buff these are the sort of places one ends up.
Then Sunday night it was off on the overnight train to Paris. We managed to get a double sleeping compartment so ended up with a reasonable night’s sleep. A short trip from Hamburg to Hanover and then onto the Paris night train. My first glimpse of France just on day break was the remains of an old Roman aqueduct. Just amazing, the sort of thing I’ve only seen in books, it flashed by and I hope that I might just get to see more as we trip round northern France later in the week.

Holland

Holland


After months of planning, years for Ron we have started our European trip. A pretty uneventful flight straight through, Auckland to Singapore, 4 hours in the airport then onto Amsterdam. Once in Amsterdam found the train station and then headed to our friends in Maastricht. We inadvertently had booked flights that arrived in Amsterdam on the Queen’s Birthday which was a holiday. Our hosts had suggested that we just get on a train and get down to Maastricht as the trains would be really full in the afternoon as people returned from the celebrations for work on Friday. The Queen’s birthday is actually a previous Queen’s birthday and is celebrated on the day. A very pleasant 4 hours and we were there. The countryside is just beautiful in its bright spring green colours. There are bright yellow fields of rape seed and lilac at every turn, white and various shades of purple. We were told on landing that it was 7 degrees C but it was 7am in the morning. A beautiful clear day followed.
We took a lovely walk in the countryside after a quick catch-up and a beer at the local golf course had us both recharged. Friday Lex had a golf tournament and Anne had to go to work so that left us to catch the bus into the city centre and explore something we really love. Masstrict is the oldest city in Holland being a trading place since 50AD. There are several parts of the city wall still visible and we walked them all built over a couple of hundred years from 1100. Old churches everywhere and the market square actually had the market that day. With it being a public holiday in both Germany and Belgium both only 30 minutes away there were people everywhere. Lots of different sausages and fish, fruit vegetables, furnishing fabrics, etc etc. Anything you could wish for in fact we managed to find a new buckle for Ron’s bum bag which he had managed to break in Singapore. At €1 it was much cheaper than replacing it.
Saturday we were taken to through Belgium to Germany to visit a really quaint little tourist town, Monshau, one building with 1584 written on the door made you realize how old it was. The place was full of cafes, restaurants and a large glass studio. The wine glasses were just out of this world but at €29.90 per glass they stayed on the shelf. There were also some beautiful water fountains made from copper which were locally made. Sunday a walk in the forest in Belgium where the trees were mostly Beech with a few Silver Birch thrown in all that amazing spring green again. So different from NZ forests with the ground here still covered in dry leaves from last autumn.