Strolled along the river yesterday morning for the 11am service at our old church – the American Church in Paris – www.acparis.org. It’s 3 years since we worshipped there last and by the nature of such a church, there were only one or two familiar faces. All three of the ministers are new. We were chatting to a chap from Indiana over coffee who works part of the year in Paris – he says that when he comes here to church he always thinks that this is what heaven will be like – people from over 70 countries, from all sorts of Christian denominations worshipping together with no concern about colour or denomination.
In the evening we went to Notre Dame Cathedral – packed out with worshippers. Unfortunately my French limits my understanding of much of what is said but I can still appreciate the atmosphere of this beautiful place where God has been worshipped for over 800 years. The music on the organ was magnificent and the church was filled with the most delicate colours from the stained glass windows.
Another hot day so we ended it having a drink on one of the barges moored near Notre Dame watching the sun fade on its magnificent southern façade and then a Lebanese meal in what must be one of the smallest restaurants in Paris – just three tables with two places each, ours being on the very edge of the narrow road.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Hanging out on the Pont des Arts
Of all the bridges that cross the Seine in Paris our favourite by miles is the Pont des Arts. It connects the Louvre to the Academy, looks out over the beautiful Ile de la Cite. It’s a pedestrian bridge – no cars. Evenings this past week have been very warm and each night there are hundreds of people on the bridge. We often take a picnic meal and just hang out for a few hours. There are lots of others picnicking, but also people singing, artists painting, people on their own reading or just watching the world go by.
Last night we chatted to a guy from Sicily – his English was about as limited as our Italian but he was happy to share our picnic. The night before we met a young man from New York who had just come to Paris for the first time a few days ago – he has spent each night till about 3 am on the bridge and doesn’t want to leave. He has been building straw and plaster houses for low income families in South America for the last few years and wants to see about doing the same in Europe.
Earlier in the week a gorgeous young woman was singing jazz and blues for an hour or so accompanied by a very good guitarist – She told us she was from Russia and had been taking some singing classes in Paris – she is busking to get her fare home – at the rate people were putting money into her red straw hat, she’ll be back in Russia quite soon.
Last night we chatted to a guy from Sicily – his English was about as limited as our Italian but he was happy to share our picnic. The night before we met a young man from New York who had just come to Paris for the first time a few days ago – he has spent each night till about 3 am on the bridge and doesn’t want to leave. He has been building straw and plaster houses for low income families in South America for the last few years and wants to see about doing the same in Europe.
Earlier in the week a gorgeous young woman was singing jazz and blues for an hour or so accompanied by a very good guitarist – She told us she was from Russia and had been taking some singing classes in Paris – she is busking to get her fare home – at the rate people were putting money into her red straw hat, she’ll be back in Russia quite soon.
Eighty year old man + Swiss Army Knife = National Security Threat
July 14 was Bastille Day here so we took ourselves down to the Champs Elysees to watch the big military parade even though displays of war making hardware are not quite our thing. By the time we arrived, people were about 10 deep along the route and before we could cross the barricades to join them we had to have a thorough body- and pack-search – not surprising in the light of recent terrorist activity in UK. Phil had our back pack with the makings of our picnic lunch and before long our Swiss Army Knife was identified – we have remembered to remove it from carry on luggage on planes in recent years (alas several pairs of our scissors and nail files have already gone to the big sharps container in the sky) but didn’t think it would be a problem at a street parade. I was minded to comment to the gents in uniform that if they felt an eighty year old with a Swiss Army Knife constituted a security threat then they really were in big trouble but this didn’t seem the time for smart one-liners – tensions are quite high at present. HUGE numbers of people in uniform have been on the streets, at train stations and generally cruising about over the last week.
In spite of all that we enjoyed being at the parade. A lovely man near us had brought his step ladder and so we chatted to him and he let us climb up now and then for a peek.
The moral of this tale is that next time you go out leave your knife behind and take your ladder instead.
In spite of all that we enjoyed being at the parade. A lovely man near us had brought his step ladder and so we chatted to him and he let us climb up now and then for a peek.
The moral of this tale is that next time you go out leave your knife behind and take your ladder instead.
Addicted to Sudoku
Not sure whether newspapers in Oz have caught up with the number puzzles which are almost as big as Harry Potter in UK( Speaking of Harry Potter, JK Rowling is rumoured to have earned 25 million pounds on the first day sales of her latest book – no wonder she can afford to buy 150 miles of Tasmanian coastline – I wonder what she plans to do with it?). We love Sudokus because unlike crosswords which require knowledge to solve them, Sudoku requires only some number skills and a lot of perseverance. Most of the quality dailies run a Sudoku each day and you can buy books of them as well as getting extra puzzles from one of the many websites – try http://guardian.co.uk/sudoku I got fooled when I managed to solve the first one which I tried in about an hour – admittedly it was rated ‘easy’ – but we’ve failed dismally with the next two. The one in yesterday’s paper was rated ‘diabolical’ so we won’t even attempt that until we can restore a bit of self confidence.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Blogjam
What a disaster. We thought we had posted several blogs in the last few weeks only to discover that our non_existant command of the german language had resulted in our saving them as drafts rather than posting them _ then to add to our woes, the first cybercafe we used in Paris was run by a japanese couple who had all the computers set on their language and couldn,t change it either to english or french. Hopefully all is remedied and you can now scroll down to find out what we have been doing.
You will realise that we were not in London during the recent bombings but we still are very saddened by them. it is hard to understand why anyone would target innocent people going about their everyday lives. There is a particularly poignant report in today,s Guardian newspaper of a speech made by the mother of a 26 year old young man killed on his way to work. We appreciated text messages and phone calls from our family and friends to check that we were safe = strangely, that was how we first knew that anything had happened.
We have been in UNESCO today and look forward to Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow. Then one more week in Paris before going to UK.
You will realise that we were not in London during the recent bombings but we still are very saddened by them. it is hard to understand why anyone would target innocent people going about their everyday lives. There is a particularly poignant report in today,s Guardian newspaper of a speech made by the mother of a 26 year old young man killed on his way to work. We appreciated text messages and phone calls from our family and friends to check that we were safe = strangely, that was how we first knew that anything had happened.
We have been in UNESCO today and look forward to Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow. Then one more week in Paris before going to UK.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Bad Wurttemberg
I am considering promoting Baden-Wurttemberg to holiday makers as a rival destination to Tuscany and Provence - OK, it doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily but it really is very beautiful. We have now completed two long walks - around 15kms each and they were just delightful.
We set off Monday from our village apartment and walked through wheat, barley, sugar beet fields and vineyards to the Schloss (castle) at Weiler. The village was cleaning up after a party in the square - we could see the fireworks from our window on Saturday night. On Sunday after church in our nearest town, Sinsheim, we’d strolled along the stream that runs through the town and there was a farmers market, jazz band and some sort of wine-tasting event happening. We realize how few communal spaces are left in our suburbs in Canberra. These lovely spaces in so many European towns and villages are constantly used for formal and informal community get-togethers which must encourage the development of social capital, fast disappearing in most developed countries.
Tuesday we drove to Baden Baden, the sophisticated spa town After the obligatory coffee and people watching, we took off on ‘PanoramaWeg’ - the 40 kms circular walking path through the foothills around the town. We walked one section and then took the mountain railway several kms to the top of a mountain - absolutely spectacular views back over Baden Baden and surrounding towns. Then we completed our bit of the circuit. Lovely to be able to walk through a northern bit of the Black Forest.
Wednesday we set off for the Tubingen, home of Germany’s oldest university (1477) - the town population is 8,000 but there are 25,000 students - it’s vacation at the moment so it was hard to imagine what it would be like in term time - it wasn’t clear where they would all live. The town is beautiful cobbled alleys, stunning half timbered houses, a Schloss on the hill in whose kitchen in 1869, Friedrich Miescher isolated the substance we now know as DNA. As I was saying, we set off for Tubingen but on the way saw some interesting buildings off to one side and drove into Bebenhausen - it doesn’t get a mention in our guide book. The whole village is now a national monument surrounding a 12th century Cistercian Abbey. It was substantially restored for use by King Friedrich in the 19th century and was the home of King Wilhelm II and his wife in the 20th.
The one failing of Germany as a tourist destination over Tuscany and Provence has to do with food. Traditional fare is hearty in the extreme - we had an excellent meal of Wild Boar in Bonn but it isn’t the sort of food you would want to eat every day of the week. Outside the tourist areas and the university towns there doesn’t seem to be the café/wine-bar culture where you can have a drink and watch the world go by - nor is there the abundance of fresh food street markets although we have been to excellent ones in Tubingen and Bonn.
On Friday we take the train to Paris so the next BLOG will come from there.
We set off Monday from our village apartment and walked through wheat, barley, sugar beet fields and vineyards to the Schloss (castle) at Weiler. The village was cleaning up after a party in the square - we could see the fireworks from our window on Saturday night. On Sunday after church in our nearest town, Sinsheim, we’d strolled along the stream that runs through the town and there was a farmers market, jazz band and some sort of wine-tasting event happening. We realize how few communal spaces are left in our suburbs in Canberra. These lovely spaces in so many European towns and villages are constantly used for formal and informal community get-togethers which must encourage the development of social capital, fast disappearing in most developed countries.
Tuesday we drove to Baden Baden, the sophisticated spa town After the obligatory coffee and people watching, we took off on ‘PanoramaWeg’ - the 40 kms circular walking path through the foothills around the town. We walked one section and then took the mountain railway several kms to the top of a mountain - absolutely spectacular views back over Baden Baden and surrounding towns. Then we completed our bit of the circuit. Lovely to be able to walk through a northern bit of the Black Forest.
Wednesday we set off for the Tubingen, home of Germany’s oldest university (1477) - the town population is 8,000 but there are 25,000 students - it’s vacation at the moment so it was hard to imagine what it would be like in term time - it wasn’t clear where they would all live. The town is beautiful cobbled alleys, stunning half timbered houses, a Schloss on the hill in whose kitchen in 1869, Friedrich Miescher isolated the substance we now know as DNA. As I was saying, we set off for Tubingen but on the way saw some interesting buildings off to one side and drove into Bebenhausen - it doesn’t get a mention in our guide book. The whole village is now a national monument surrounding a 12th century Cistercian Abbey. It was substantially restored for use by King Friedrich in the 19th century and was the home of King Wilhelm II and his wife in the 20th.
The one failing of Germany as a tourist destination over Tuscany and Provence has to do with food. Traditional fare is hearty in the extreme - we had an excellent meal of Wild Boar in Bonn but it isn’t the sort of food you would want to eat every day of the week. Outside the tourist areas and the university towns there doesn’t seem to be the café/wine-bar culture where you can have a drink and watch the world go by - nor is there the abundance of fresh food street markets although we have been to excellent ones in Tubingen and Bonn.
On Friday we take the train to Paris so the next BLOG will come from there.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
July 2 - Near Heidelberg
As you can see, we’ve been having just too much fun to get to writing our blog.
Just finished a week in Bonn where we stayed with Phil’s longtime friend and colleague, Rupert Maclean and his wife Michiko. Rupert heads up the UNESCO-UNEVOC Centre in Bonn - Phil is working on several books and also on some articles for Rupert.
On Wednesday we had an excellent meal with them overlooking the Rhine and each attempted to select the 5 best meals we’ve ever eaten. Here they are:
Rupert:
Rules, Covent Garden, London
Felix in the Peninsular Hotel, Hong Kong (make sure you get a table upstairs by the window)
Lord Jim in the Oriental Hotel, Bangkok
Hole-in-the-Wall, Bristol
Mum’s Indian cooking ( Rupert’s family were Scots who lived in India for 400 years =yes, that is 4 hundred= before coming to Australia in the late 1940’s so plenty of time to perfect Indian cooking)
Michiko:
Ritz, Paris
Bendick - I think in Luxembourg during their recent 10day E-Type Jaguar car rally
Sushi in Seattle
Hot Springs meals in Japan
Hang on Michiko, that’s only 4!!!!!
Phil:
Tour d’Argent, Paris
Foliage, London
Lamole, near Greve Italy
Guzzanello, near Lucca Italy
Kelli:
Stephanie’s Melbourne (sadly no longer)
Fee & Me, Launceston
The Three Chimneys, Isle of Skye
Louis XIII, Paris
St Julien, near Bordeaux
Yesterday we drove south along the Rhine through beautiful towns notably Boppard and St Goar but both beaten by the small town of Rhens perched neatly and unobtrusively by the river and with some lovely houses. The sequence is improbably picturesque with the river bordered by very steep banks on either side, and vineyards climbing the slopes to be crowned by castle ruins on the peaks. On to Bingen at the end of the Rhine sequence, the home of Hildegarde of Bingen, saint, feminist and musician, then at breakneck speeds on the Autobahn (climaxed by an hour-long traffic snarl at the end of our journey, traveling just 10kms) to our home for the next week - an apartment near Heidelberg. Weather is a bit dodgy at the moment so will postpone our long walks till it picks up a bit - might even find time today to locate an internet café and get this posted.
PS Weather has picked up considerably so we are now strolling around the wonderful town of Heidelberg and may stay on for the evening.
Just finished a week in Bonn where we stayed with Phil’s longtime friend and colleague, Rupert Maclean and his wife Michiko. Rupert heads up the UNESCO-UNEVOC Centre in Bonn - Phil is working on several books and also on some articles for Rupert.
On Wednesday we had an excellent meal with them overlooking the Rhine and each attempted to select the 5 best meals we’ve ever eaten. Here they are:
Rupert:
Rules, Covent Garden, London
Felix in the Peninsular Hotel, Hong Kong (make sure you get a table upstairs by the window)
Lord Jim in the Oriental Hotel, Bangkok
Hole-in-the-Wall, Bristol
Mum’s Indian cooking ( Rupert’s family were Scots who lived in India for 400 years =yes, that is 4 hundred= before coming to Australia in the late 1940’s so plenty of time to perfect Indian cooking)
Michiko:
Ritz, Paris
Bendick - I think in Luxembourg during their recent 10day E-Type Jaguar car rally
Sushi in Seattle
Hot Springs meals in Japan
Hang on Michiko, that’s only 4!!!!!
Phil:
Tour d’Argent, Paris
Foliage, London
Lamole, near Greve Italy
Guzzanello, near Lucca Italy
Kelli:
Stephanie’s Melbourne (sadly no longer)
Fee & Me, Launceston
The Three Chimneys, Isle of Skye
Louis XIII, Paris
St Julien, near Bordeaux
Yesterday we drove south along the Rhine through beautiful towns notably Boppard and St Goar but both beaten by the small town of Rhens perched neatly and unobtrusively by the river and with some lovely houses. The sequence is improbably picturesque with the river bordered by very steep banks on either side, and vineyards climbing the slopes to be crowned by castle ruins on the peaks. On to Bingen at the end of the Rhine sequence, the home of Hildegarde of Bingen, saint, feminist and musician, then at breakneck speeds on the Autobahn (climaxed by an hour-long traffic snarl at the end of our journey, traveling just 10kms) to our home for the next week - an apartment near Heidelberg. Weather is a bit dodgy at the moment so will postpone our long walks till it picks up a bit - might even find time today to locate an internet café and get this posted.
PS Weather has picked up considerably so we are now strolling around the wonderful town of Heidelberg and may stay on for the evening.
Midsummers Day
June 21 - Midsummers Day or Midwinter if you’re in the other hemisphere.
Our week in the west ended with an overnight stop at a B & B in Oughterard near Galway before returning to Dublin on Sunday. The B & B was run by a couple who had spent 15 years running a similar place in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney so were delighted to talk about their time in Oz. Along with the B & B they run a fishing business - Donal takes parties of fisherpersons out on the lake or fly-fishing from the shore - he says fishing on Lake Jindabyne came a close second. We would have liked to spend more time in that area - it is very beautiful country - lots of big lakes and good walking paths - maybe next year. On the way to Galway, we drove along the coast through an area called The Burren - an amazingly stark rocky part of the country - a real contrast to the rolling green farmland we had become used to in Kerry. Along the way we stopped off to walk along the cliff tops at the Cliffs of Moher - very dramatic.
Then on Sunday night, a wonderful meal with Richie’s family in Dublin. Never before have we had a garden deck built especially for our visit - made us feel like royalty! Actually, I think Richie’s mum used the occasion as leverage on his dad to get a long anticipated project completed - the weather did its bit and we sat on the deck in warm sunlight till close to 10pm.
Today we are off to London for a few days with Phil’s niece Bronwyn then a couple of nights in Oxford.
Our week in the west ended with an overnight stop at a B & B in Oughterard near Galway before returning to Dublin on Sunday. The B & B was run by a couple who had spent 15 years running a similar place in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney so were delighted to talk about their time in Oz. Along with the B & B they run a fishing business - Donal takes parties of fisherpersons out on the lake or fly-fishing from the shore - he says fishing on Lake Jindabyne came a close second. We would have liked to spend more time in that area - it is very beautiful country - lots of big lakes and good walking paths - maybe next year. On the way to Galway, we drove along the coast through an area called The Burren - an amazingly stark rocky part of the country - a real contrast to the rolling green farmland we had become used to in Kerry. Along the way we stopped off to walk along the cliff tops at the Cliffs of Moher - very dramatic.
Then on Sunday night, a wonderful meal with Richie’s family in Dublin. Never before have we had a garden deck built especially for our visit - made us feel like royalty! Actually, I think Richie’s mum used the occasion as leverage on his dad to get a long anticipated project completed - the weather did its bit and we sat on the deck in warm sunlight till close to 10pm.
Today we are off to London for a few days with Phil’s niece Bronwyn then a couple of nights in Oxford.
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