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Paris – Beyond the Eiffel Tower

An allee at Le Jardin du Plantes
Iconic view of Montmartre
Er . . . one of the bridges over the Seine.
More Montmartre below – we took a “Paris Walks” of the area.

This square in Montmartre is the last where artists gather. Many drawing tourist portraits.
Below is a snap of a random woman in front of a gorgeous, flower clad restaurant. Oh, and a street sign.

Our first glimpse of Notre Dame
A Notre Dame spire.
The Louvre and Notre Dame
We caught the tail end of the bird and flower market near Notre Dame when we arrived on Sunday.
Above are photos of a typical Parisian sidewalk cafe and . . . er . . . . a really pretty building we saw during our cruise down the Seine.

Yes, Virginia, There is an Eiffel Tower

Okay, alright, I admit it – the Eiffel Tower exists. And I became as enthralled by it as everyone else, as evidenced by the multitude of photos included here. Brooke and I were allowed only a fleeting glimpse of the Tower during our taxi ride to the hotel. Next day, we boarded one of those hop on, hop off, double decker tourist buses and set off on a tour of Paris. At one point, we rounded a corner and there, in all it’s glory, was the Eiffel Tower. As Brooke remarked, actually seeing it in person, and rather unexpectedly, takes your breath away. These are photos from my camera – and I hardly took any snaps at all, leaving the bulk of that duty to Vicky and Brooke. I can only imagine how many images of the Tower Brooke has on her camera. Without a doubt, we have 360 degree views of the Tower. From every angle. At any time of day or night. Wallpaper anyone? As promised in my previous post concerning the Eiffel Tower, I apologise to the French people for ever doubting it’s existence. 

Tea Time in London, and more London Libraries

Victoria here. Before I finish my tea, I will tell you about several other London libraries I have used for research. After my day in the reading rooms of the British Library, I took the train to Hertford, a little north of London, and worked at the Hertfordshire Archives.  I took a taxi to the County Hall, where in addtion to the archives, they perform weddings and all sorts of other governmental business.

I had accessed their archival catalogue on line and pre-ordered a number of papers related to the Melbourne and Cowper families who had country houses and large land holdings there. The archives had more material than I could use in just one day, so I had to sort through a lot of things I wished I had time to look at — and tried to concentrate on the most significant materials for my needs. 

Darn if that isn’t a frustrating thing — when you have all sorts of letters, from ones telling the bailiff to do something about a certain field, or an account of a church fete organization, it’s hard not to read the whole thing.  But by 2:30, my eyes had glazed over and I headed back to London.  If I need the material again, they will copy some documents for me — or for you — more for a fee, but a few without charge if you have the specific numbers.

I got to the VandA National Art Library on Friday afternoon just an hour before it closed. Again, I had preregistered on line and asked for a certain sale catalogue I wanted to see.  Even though I doubted I would finish with it that day, at least I would have an idea of how much more time I’d need. 

Luckily, the material was brief: sales of rugs, bronzes, and a few other items.  So I had it copied (again, without charge) and I was done!  Amazing.  

Everyone was as nice as could be in both facilities. And I feel I accomplished most of my purposes. No one at eitjher place wanted any documentation of my status (darn good thing I guess) nor did they ask my purposes. It ws great! But was I hungry!!! That was a teatime too at the VandA, which is open late on Friday nights. 

Last year, I did some research at the Westminster Archives, which also has its catalogues on line. It has books, papers and records for the western part of what we call London, the part outside of the city.  I used microfiches and several rolls of microfilm, with the capable assistance of a librarian and found out exactly what I needed about a few streets in Mayfair — the parish records showed who lived where and when. Their facilities are located just a short distance from Westminster Abbey.

Three years ago I used the Colindale reading room of the British Library, on the Northern tube line. That’s where you can read the papers on  microfilm, microfiche, and in the case of the Morning Chronicle from the regency period, in bound copies. I felt the pages almost flake as I turned them. Very fragile indeed.  And talk about being easily diverted — wow. Everything was of interest. Quite a few of these newspapers can be accessed through the Library of Congress or the British Library on line.  There may be a  fee involved, but it’s worth checking.

Here’s one I haven’t been to yet.  If I had a pile of pounds, I would join the London Library, a private institution in St. James Square with a superb collection.  Georgette Heyer is said to have done most of her research there.  Someday, I’ll make it.

Because I only have one internet connection at the hotel, I don’t have any links to these places, but you will find them easily with google.

Now, as I sip my last drop of tea, I will tell you I went back to Buckingham Palace this morning, to the Queen’s Gallery Shop.  I bought a catalogue of the exhibition “Victoria and Albert in Love” that Kristine and I visited week before last. And a few other things. We rode the bus, as it is a beautiful day in London, but a bit on the warm side and those tube stations can be sweltering.  And anyway, even with the bumpy streeets, crazy traffic and constant noise, it’s fun to sit and look around.

We dropped off the loot at our hotel and wandered off to the British Library to see the exhibition there on maps.  Fascinating. Also walked around in the their permanent collection, the Magna Carta to the Beatles lyrics and music, including Jane Austen’s writing desk presented to the BL by the late Joan Austen-Leigh, one of the founders of JASNA, and a relative of the Austens.  Before the family gave the desk to the library, I was at a meeting where it was shown and I have touched it!!! 

After lunch we tottered off to the British Museum for a brief visit. Like the BL, it was jammed with people.  Huge crowd around the Rosetta Stone and inspecting the Elgin Marbles.

 Ed came back to the hotel, but I had to have one last crack at a nearby Ox-Fam bookshop.  Things were mostly too recent for my tastes, but I found a novel to read on the plane tomorrow.

So we  have abused our feet and backs again, even though we tried to take it easier today.  And since the tea is now cold, I’d better quit.

Cheerio!

Return to London

Victoria here —  This morning (Sunday) our ship arrived in Basel, Switzerland, and we disembarked, heading for London.  The Rhine Cruise was wonderful, a congenial group of mostly Americans, a goodly number of Brits, and a few Australians. Quite a few of us were returning to London via train (I guess when we made the arrangements we were all considering the possibility that Icelandic volcano could have spoiled our plans).

So we boarded the French high speed train, the TGV, to Paris. It made several stops but was indeed fast. Lovely views of the summery countryside of France most of the way.  We arrived at the Paris East Station and took a taxi to Paris Gare du Nord — not very far. But it was HOT!! Must have been  in the 90’s.

We got on the Eurostar and sped off to London St. Pancras, which was also pretty warm. The trains were fantastic, efficient and why don’t we have them in the US????? Clean. Comfortable. Smooth. I really could rant about it, but I won’t.  I’ll just add that both trains were entirely booked with reserved seats.

We taxied to our hotel for two nights, the Radisson Edwardian Kenilworth, half a block from the British Museum. Left, the British Museum in 1811.

 London is also in the 80’s, but breezy and not as humid as Paris. It’s supposed to be like this all week, so if you aren’t busy, get yourself over here to enjoy the Great British Summer. Yeah.

We strolled around in the early evening and stopped at a little Italian restaurant with four tables  outside — delicious and very friendly. We talked with a couple of writers from Orlando and a German woman who lives in Durham. 

London was rather quiet tonight, with a lot a disappointment all around at the loss to Germany in the World Cup. Long faces.

Now we are resting up and hoping to put in a busy day tomorrow.  I have only one required stop, at the Buckingham Palace Shop, to buy a few goodies.  Maybe the Museum of London, but maybe just some strolls since the weather will be perfect. Sorry this post is information-less, but I am  just happy to be here!!

Back in the U.S. of A

Kristine here, back in the land of television shows in English and computer keyboards with all the keys where they should be. I did try to post while in France, but honestly, it was too frustrating. As Vicky has posted, once she is also back in the States we’ll be posting blogs and pics of our trip, but for now I’ll give you the highlights of the Wellington tour once Vicky and I parted ways. Vicky and Ed left us on Sunday morning, Battle of Waterloo day, in order to make their cruise connection. Brooke and I went on with the tour to the re-enactment site.

When we’d visited the day before to see the military camps, La Belle Alliance and Hougemount, someone had asked me if I were going to walk to the top of the Lion’s Mound, the great man-made hill erected to commemorate the Battle and I responded, emphatically, no. It’s an almost verticle hill with many, many steps to the top. Well, dear reader, never say never. It turns out that there were so many visitors to the battle that if you’d stayed on the ground, you’d never see a thing, being five or six deep in a crowd of spectators. It was absolutely freezing on the day, and had rained the day before so Brooke and I bought commemorative Waterloo blankets (not kidding) and began the long climb up the mound. We got about half way there and found ourselves spots from which to view the action. Once you left the stairs, you had to crouch down in order to walk to your place, the slope is so steep. Also, it’s covered in slippery grass, with no footholds to speak of. Talk about harrowing. Brooke later told me that she’d never before actually seen terror in anyone’s eyes as she had when she was helping me to our place. The fact that people above us kept losing their personal items – cameras, umbrellas and such – and that these kept rolling down the hill past us did not offer us much comfort. At last we found purchase, digging our heels and butts into the hillside in order to gain a bit of purchase, and settled in for the show. . .

And what a show it was. It was absolutely thrilling to be in the thick of the Battle, so to speak. The  formations, the cannons going off, the rifles being fired, the smoke enveloping the field as mounted calvary cantered across the field, all of it was fabulous. And to add to the authenticity of the thing, it began to bucket down rain. So now I’m precariously perched on the side of the Mound, watching the battle, holding an umbrella over us and trying to film the Battle. It was at this point that Brooke told me she wasn’t into Wellington as much as I was and this was all more of a sacrifice than she was prepared to make and that she was going down the pub to wait for me in the dry, with a drink. Thank God one of fellow tour members, an exceedingly nice man who was a retired police detective from Surrey, was with us and able to help me back down the Mound at the end or I’d still be sitting at the Battlefield.

Vicky and I took masses of photos all along the way and we promise to post them soon – shots of the military camps, the battle sites and lots of re-enactors in various uniforms. I also took much video – including footage of “Wellington” on horseback, galloping between regiments – and if I can figure out how to edit these, I’ll be posting them in the near future. It’s grand to be back and we look forward to sharing our trip via our posts here soon.