Our trip to Paris, Part 2

Hi Good readers,

Yesterday I stopped while we were on our way back to Paris from Ghent in Belgium. We used the reverse order of the train service to get back.

Our hotel was close to Gare du L'Est (the second largest metro station in Paris - the largest being Gare du Nord or Northern Station, if you must. You'll see in the pic exactly how close and the Good Wife loved the location. At the check-in desk we were served by a gentleman of North African origin and there were no shenenigans i.e. the online booking reflected properly on the hotel's system etc.

There was  a small change, truth be told. Or originally computer assigned room on the 2nd floor was undergoing renovations and it was exchanged for a room on the 5th floor, a room with a view and a balcony. The views from the balcony was magnificent and the Good wife was elated. I was a bit impressed myself. Your view???

Gare du L'Est across from our balcony

 The view across the street easily confirmed our concept of old Paris as well:

The view at night is simply gorgeous as well but you'll have to take my word for it :-). No you don't!!

Early eveing view od Gare du L'Est

The Good Wife had only one objective foremost in her mind. Get to the Louvre!!

It was up to moi to get our ducks in a row and off the Louvre we went. Luckily for us it was not such a busy day but early morning bustle at Cape Town station had nothing on the crowds. Our Paris Pass worked a treat and we skipped quite a few queues before finding ourselves in the hallowed halls faithfully and sometimes terrifyingly depicted in Dan Brown novels. All the "Dan Brown said this and Dan Brown said that" that streamed into both my ears were lost on uncultured me, who never held Dan's books in high esteem, preferring the Aussie John Pilger and his ilk instead. There you have it I'm a closet Aussie lover. Oz is good for something! apart from sheep and cricket.

We stopped off at the 850 year-old Notre Dame on the way to the Louvre.

We then made our way to the above-ground glass pyramid and to the Egyptology sector next. After that, the Good Wife could not be contained from getting to the Mona Lisa anymore and she used me as a snow plough to get through the throngs of mostly white people.

Springbok at the bottom

I realised why I liked the Egyptology section when I saw one of their murals depicting a Springbok well and alive while most other animals except dogs were depicted in a dead poses. Good to know I come from a country with an appreciation for the finer things in life as well; the Springbok being one our national sports emblems.

I must admit my noticing the springbok was total luck and that I only developed this context when I started writing this current post.

But, such is the case with most scientific discoveries. It waits to be discovered and placed in some pre-existing or brand new context.

The cow at the top of the Egyptian mural was food, the Springbok was clearly not.

We then made our way to the Romance period hall and scrummed to get to the Mona Lisa. I again remembered the Springbok and did my bit for "Volk en Vaderland" (for the sake of the beloved country) to get closer. The Good Wife is rather chesty and ok in open play but she's no frontranker, so she quit the scrum when it became more interesting. She swears that Mona Lisa's eyes followed her wherever she went in the hall. Me, I was too busy scrumming to notice being watched by a really old bird!!!

The Chesty One in Open Play

Scrum to get close to Mona Lisa

I therefore took some pics of the Mona Lisa without the assistance of my wingwoman! Came out OK, given that it was a continually moving scrum. I had to zoom in and this did not do the pic quality any wonders.

MonaLisa-ZoomQualityReduced 

The pic does not do the Dan Brown version any justice but the Good Wife accepted it was the best I could do (scouts honour!) Scouts honour is not generally accepted if it comes from me but she clearly had no appetite to tackle that particular international scrum to get a better version.So my low quality version stands for posterity!!

We were already tired from traipsing all over Central Paris so we only took a few further pics in the Louvre before making a beeline for our comfortable hotel room via the metro. One Metro stop leads directly into the shopping area of the Louvre, so it is the easiest way to get there for me. One of the pics was of the throne of one of the Popes of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Louvre is the largest museum in the world and it is impossible to see everything in our estimation in less than 3 or 4 days. We missed three more halls in our quick visit and the good wife would love to return. This can happen should I win the Lotto (which I do not play) or if by somesuch miracle enough money falls into our laps.

I'm going to sign off for today but there are at least two more installments on Paris waiting for the scribe!

Trust you enjoyed this post,

Keep well until next time!

Our trip to Paris Part 1

Good friends,

Yes! not even I could resist the consistent pleas for us to go to Paris. For the life of me, I could not see the attraction but persons and forces greater than me were at work.

We, the good wife and I, applied for and received Schengen visas valid for 3 years at the French consulate in Cape Town. So it was that in late 2013, we jumped on a plane to Paris via Dubai and landed at CDG International early in the next morning. We had bought a Paris Pass, also at the urging of these irresistible forces, but had to pick it up at a store in the city. Having been to Paris on business trips before, I was au fait with Metro but the Good Wife was not!! This little difference caused me untold misery as I practically had to drag the lady from Gare du Nord to a small station somewhere in Paris.

The problem was that we had a train to catch from Gare du Nord to Belgium a few hours hence and the good wife was worried that we would not be back in time. Her experience with trains is South African based. So, after lugging luggage and a reticent lady through the Paris Metro, successfully and timeously retrieving our Paris Passes, we eventually made it back to Gare du Nord. We were successful but not outwardly happy and, when my good wife were hard done by at a Paris roadside restaurant, she was less enamoured with the city of love and she looked like table mountain with its winter cloth fully in place. This photo which, in my innocence, I sent back to the family via social media, made her state of discomfort very clear. Had I but the forbearance to sent the next pic first.

Not happy at Gare du Nord

Happier at Gare du Nord

My careless choice of pic unlocked a veritable storm of enquiries from back home. Most centred on questioning what I did to their mom or sister!!! The hunchback of Notre Dame have not felt as insulted as I did at the time! But the fault was mine for a careless moment in choosing a pic to send back home! So I fell on my wellworn old sabre!!! Yep, had to get a sabre once the foil became pointless (pun intended)!!

The Thalys trip to Brussels was quicker than we both expected and we were happy I made the choice to go by train (less hassle than airports). Some Brownie points had accumulated by the time the train stopped in Brussels. It was easy to find the platform for our next train to Ghent, the place where the late Charmaine, youngest sister of my good wife, was buried. See, it was not all fun and games! Some familial issues came into play.

We had decided early on that the trip had to include a visit to Charmaine's grave hence the Belgium detour. I arranged that we go to gravesite first and then go back to Paris. The convoluted travel itinerary was necessitated by a limited amount of funds measures against comfort. An alternative route would have been to fly into Schiphol and to take trains to Ghent and Paris but this route presented too many unknowns that I was unwilling to confront!! See, I was familiar with Dubai and Paris.

We arrived in Ghent early evening and made our way to our hotel near the Sint Pieters Station in a slight drizzle. We overnighted well and had a good breakfast the next morning. With our bellies well-sorted, we had to make our way to the gravesite, which the good wife, having been there twice before, had no idea of location. Luckily she possessed functional telephone numbers of the late Charmaine's in-laws. Oom (Flemish is spoken there so it translates to "Uncle") Daniel and his wife Auntie Annie, was surprised and angry to hear from us. Surprised to hear we were in Ghent and angry because we did not call on them for accommodation. I am unfortunately the independent type in this regard and when I can afford it, so I re-acquainted myself with my sabre.

Evy paying homage at Charmaine's grave

Our Belgium family was gracious enough to forgive my pride and spoilt us with local Belgium cuisine which include Frite (Belgium's French Fries or Freedom Fries if you are American). Here we are having a frite with meat stew meal at a Ghent restaurant, paid for by Omm Daniel and Auntie Annie. Beyond lekker!

FLTR: Oom Daniel, Aunty Annie and Evy (watching my food while I'm taking pic).

One thing is certain: The station buildings in Europe are well-preserved and contain beautiful wall and ceiling paintings.

This pic was taken at St Pieters station in Ghent and is remisniscent of stations in other European towns and cities.

Some of artwork on ceiling at Sint Pieters Station

The best metro artwork I've seen however, was on the Moscow underground!

We enjoyed our time in Ghent, thanks largely to our Belgium family's efforts and then, the next day, we were on our way back to the city of love.

This I will tell about in Part 2, DV.

Keep well.