We Made It To Paris! : Day 1 – E.T.

We impressed ourselves by driving the 130k’s to Paris at 130kph, finding the ring road, negotiating our way through the traffic, round the south of Paris and out towards Orly Airport where we had arranged to return our leased Citroen at noon.  We got there at 5 past 12 with no hiccups, had an exorbitantly priced bite at the airport before being collected by our pre-booked Paris Shuttle at 1pm, and we were in the heart of Paris at our lovely hotel in the Rue de Passy, 16th arrondissement, by 2pm.  After having had the car for 70 days and driving 6,175 kms in it, giving it back felt like leaving an old friend.  We are only 10 minutes walk from the Eiffel Tower, so our afternoon was spent wandering round by it, taking in the street sights, the entertainers, the hum and activity of Paris.

Street entertainers: doing something interesting, or	dressed like a twit and just plain begging	“C’mon Lenny, huggle up, it’s romantic Lenny, romantic”	I can’t bring myself to do the usual cheesy tower photo, so here’s my Eiffel Tower
Serious security: you wouldn’t want to be stepping out of line	‘Flat Out In Paris’ – 50 paces from the throng of activity under the tower and anything goes it seems	E.T. at 9.59pm on any given night	E.T. from 10pm – 10.10pm – ablaze with blinking little white lights

Rouen

The main attraction in Rouen is its cathedral which is currently undergoing major restoration, so not many exterior photos.  It’s too big to get in one photo anyway.  Monet painted it many times, from a rented room  directly opposite the face of the cathedral.  I have to say, it looks better through his eyes than in real life.  Rouen was also where Joan of Arc was tried and condemned.

16th century houses still standing and occupied	Rouen Cathedral entrance	Getting better at stained glass pics ?	There’s nothing like a good mouldy old gargoyle
Lumps in our throats – the pink azaleas mark the spot where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake	A modern take on the Norman warriors	The clock on the tower	On our ’bizarre’ list – owner nowhere to be seen, some food left, rabbit attached to the dog.  Both of them sitting perfectly still.  Weird.

Giverny: The Home & Gardens of Claude Monet

Oh, oh, oh.  A treasure and delight.  The interior of Monet’s home is very colourful and ornately decorated.  It is also still fully furnished so it was great to see it as it truly was when he lived there. The large dining room was painted bright yellow, with a yellow table and 10 chairs – overwhelmingly yellow, but absolutely enchanting.  The large studio is hung with many replicas of his work.  Although there were tourists everywhere, we managed to absorb the tranquility of his garden and soak up it’s spirit.  Divine, thanks big M.

Monet’s house and a little of the garden

A nice display outside the front door

Part of the waterlily pond

The famous bridge over the waterlily pond

Look, and you shall find other interesting things going on in Monet’s garden, such as:

toad stools

a very noisy toad

tut, tut, caught fishin’ in Monet’s stream

you’re a good lookin’ chook (that’s what Linz says to me!)

Mont St-Michel

We decided to go out of our way to see this spectacle while you can still reach it by car.  There are plans to demolish the causeway and massive parking area so that Mont St -Michel will once again become an island.  A bridge will replace the causeway and tourists will be ferried out by shuttle, but judging by the number of tourists there at 11am on a Monday morning, be thinking: worst nightmare.   We were pleased we made the effort to go though as it is a really fascinating place.

For the postcard series …	This is how the Abbey and island looked during the 11th & 12th centuries	These two renegades slide in for the classic tourist pose
One has to be patient and wait a very long time to capture the attractive cloisters without any bits of leftover tourists in amongst it.	Interesting architecture – a bit of Brittany with a dash of Normandy	Part of the huge wheel at the top of the cathedral, hand operated to haul supplies up from way down below.

View across the causeway: It’s 11am on Monday morning.  When we left there were 30 coaches, about 300 or more cars, and 40 or 50 motor homes.  That’s about 2,500 people.  The narrow streets were heaving and it was all too much in the end.  Everyone takes their dog.  Yes, why?  Good question.  One woman had 4 greyhounds on leads (I really don’t get that at all).  We’d had enough of screeching teenage tour groups by then anyway.

Brittany Detour

With 5 days left until Paris, we decided on a quick detour to see Le Mont St-Michel.  Our 250 km trip northwest took us just into Brittany for the next 2 days where we stayed at St Malo.   On the way we had a photo stop at the lovely town of Sablé-sur-Sarthe.  Brittany is quite distinct from the rest of France in its architecture and culture, and we noticed this even in our brief stay.

Sablé-sur-Sarthe

Typical Breton stone house

Cyclist proudly flying the Breton flag

A very bizarre thing … the balls in the trees are Mistletoe cling-ons!

Getting the water for the sand castle moat on the beach at St Malo …

St Malo – edge of the old town

Oh darn, he’s at lunch between 12 and 2

The Belem - famous French Sailing ship, built in 1896

Blueishisms