Paris, Day 1

Like wherever else you are there are basic chores that need to be done.  Washing and shopping are always a high priority.  We went to the local Alimentation Generale where we had been doing our local shopping for years.  At first we thought it had changed hands but no, our old friends were there and seemed really pleased to see us.

We went to the larger grocery store for a few items and on the way back stopped at the greengrocers for some vegetable for dinner.  I went over to the poissonniere to get some fish for dinner.  I was very proud of myself as I asked, in French, for two pieces of salmon.  I than paid for them and as I turned away it happened again.  It seems whenever I feel as if I have actually gotten away with my very poor French the person I have been dealing with fires a blast of high speed French at me and I just stand there with a totally blank stare on my face.

As we headed home after our shopping, we saw a street-seller with miniature daffodils.  We bought a couple bunches to brighten up the flat.

Miniature Daffodils

Later, in order to get the second set of keys to the flat, Virginia went up to see the Chef de Syndicate.  She was greeted with surprise since he expected us next week, but we soon had two sets of keys.

In the afternoon Virginia went to the Alliance Francaise to enrol in her course only to find she had to take the entry test again.  They seemed unable to think of a good reason for doing this other than that is the way it done.  When they demanded 57 Euros for the test, Virginia, always the cynic, assumed that was the reason - a fabulous source of income.  The good news was that when she finished the test she was told she would be put up a class higher than the one she was in last year.  The test is a 90 minute written paper and a 30 minute oral. This is serious stuff, not for the faint of heart.

While Virginia was at the Alliance, I was busy writing my course for second term of  the Hobart U3A.  I am offering a course on the American Frontier from the Louisiana Purchase to the end of the nineteenth century.  Ten sessions, and it takes me about a week to prepare each session.  Fortunately we will be in Paris for ten weeks!  Still, I suspect I will find time to do other things.

Later in the afternoon we set out to go for a drink on the Butte, but the weather changed and the rains came.  Fortunately we have a very nice café not far from where we are living, Café Francoeur.  Instead we went there for a drink.  It is very pleasant and like all French cafés, you can sit over your coffee or wine for as long as you want.  There was an elderly couple at the next table and we recognised them as locals who came in for a beer every afternoon.  We were pleased that they recognised us and we exchanged pleasantries as the French do.

Café Francoeur

Brussels to Paris

The distance between Brussels and Paris is about 265 Km and the train makes the trip in about 1 1/4 hours.  At times it reaches speeds of around 300 Km per hour. There are a number of high speed rail lines in Europe and they cooperate so that movement between them is virtually seamless.  From Brussels we travelled with Thalys. Thalys is an international high-speed train operator originally built around the high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris or Brussels to London via Lille and the Channel Tunnel and with French domestic TGV trains.  The trains are beautifully maintained and can be easily identified by their red colour.

Thalys Train

After a couple of weeks of travelling it was good to get to Paris.  We've spent enough time here to be comfortable with the system and it really was like coming home.  It's nice to be able to wash your clothes in a washing machine you are familiar with and to go to shops that you know.

Of course, these days, travel in Europe is so much easier than it used to be.  First, the currency is mainly the same from one country to the next, the ubiquitous Euro.  Second, with the Schengen agreement allowing 25 of the European states to act in some respects as a single state; no passports are required to move between the member states and there are no interminable border crossings.  We simply went to the station in Brussels, boarded our train and got off in Paris. Then we took a cab to the flat and settled in.

Tomorrow our vie Parisienne begins,

Our last day in Brussels

Tomorrow we leave Brussels for Paris and I have to admit it feels a bit like going home.  We have spent so many months in the flat in Montmartre that it has become just that, a second home.  But before we leave, we have today.

Virginia felt compelled to "do" the shops before we left Brussels and was very dissapointed.  The shopping district is not exactly classy.  All we saw was the normal "High Street" shops like Zara, Monsoon, C and A, etc., nothing ultra chic.

The Second Best Shopping Passageway in Brussels

In fact we thought that the shopping in Adelaide was as good, if not better although Brussels does offer more choices in chocolate and beer!  Overall it was a quiet, restful day, doing chores.

A Shop offering 250 different Belgian Beers

 We are walking up to twenty kilometers a day and burning off the calories!  At least this is what we tell ourselves as we eat the divine Belgian chocolate.  For dinner today we shared a huge pot of Moules marinières.  For those unfamiliar with this wonderful dish it is mussels cooked in white wine with a little parsley some leek, butter or olive oil, and a bit of carrot some garlic and a dash of cream. There is nothing more mouth-watering than a huge bowl of artistically presented mussels, yet the fun part is eating them. The best way is to use an empty mussel shell as a tool to pick the remaining mussels from their shells and then eat them. It's a brilliant excuse to use your fingers to eat rather than the usual knife and fork. And, of course, to finish off you need to dunk your baguette into the sauce.  This is heaven and the chips which accompany it aren't half bad either.

A meal of moules

All that's left after a meal of moules!

Of course, being able to sit on the square and watch the buildings on a day when it is warm enough to dine out is a pretty pleasant experience too.

Dining on the Square

Brussels-Bruges-Brussels

 Today we went to Bruges.  The very first thing we discovered on arriving was that we should have gone to Bruges to stay and done a side trip to Brussels, rather than the other way around.  But I'm getting ahead of the story. As we walked to the station in Brussels two things were apparent.  Brussels is very proud of its history of popular art, and especially cartooning.  This is the home of Tin-Tin and where else in the world would you find a hotel with a huge Tin-Tin on its roof?

Hotel Le Lombard

A trifle kitsch perhaps, but there are a number of very attractive modern buildings in the city.  Not surprisingly for a country that prides itself on its social services, one of the largest buildings near the rail station houses the department responsible for these services.  It is a very modern, streamlined building with just enough decoration to minimise its look of functional austerity.

Building housing Social Services

On to the rail station which is huge and confusing.  The confusion may be compounded by the characters one sees having a drink or a cup of coffee in one of the many food and drink stalls.

Everyone seems quite unimpressed with a tea drinking zebra

Trains to Bruges leave just about every half hour and stop once at Ghent en-route.  The trip takes an hour and much of it is through lively countryside.

Waiting for the train to Bruges

We were surprised at the size of Bruges.  I think we anticipated a small medieval town.  We were certainly right about the medieval, but were quite wrong about the "small." The entire historic centre is a UNESCO world heritage site. The population of Bruges is 117,251 compared with just over a million for Brussels.

The centre of the old city is the market square, with buildings dating from the medieval period.

The Market Square

This exquisite gem of a city is breathtaking and overwhelming.  We did the tour and then spent hours walking through its lovely streets and parks. Many of the streets are still populated by medieval houses built in the Flemish style.

Old Houses

 Many of the houses around the Market Square, Bruges' centre of attraction, have been converted into shops and restaurants.

A beautiful old house, now a shop

There are numerous canals and because of its port it was once the premier commercial city of the world.

A Canal in Bruges

Bruges' most famous landmark is its 13th-century belfry in the Market Square, housing a municipal carillon comprising 48 bells. The city still employs a full-time carillonneur, who gives free concerts on a regular basis.

The Belfry

This is a devoutly Catholic city and there are numerous churches dotted throughout.  One of the most fascinating is found in the the second major square in the old city, the Burg Square.  The Burg was, and still is, the heart of the administrative Bruges.  Here is found The Basilica of the Holy Blood. The relic of the Holy Blood, which was brought to the city after the Second Crusade by Thierry of Alsace, is paraded every year through the streets of Bruges. More than 1,600 inhabitants take part in this mile-long religious procession, many dressed as medieval knights or crusaders.

Basilica of the Holy Blood

Not far from the two squares is the old fish market.  Dating from 1821, fresh seafood from the North Sea is available from Tuesday to Saturday between 6:00 am and 1:00 pm.  Nearby over a door can be seen a testament to the area.

Near the Fish Market

There is much, much more to be seen but time didn't allow us to explore the city to the degree we would have liked.  Hopefully we will have an opportunity to return to beautiful Bruges some time in the future.

Brussels, Day 2

The easiest way to see any new place is to take the conducted tour or, in our case, the hop on and hop off bus trip.  This was basically divided into two parts, the old city and the modern city.  First, a word about the modern city.The European Parliament has three places of work: Brussels (Belgium), Luxembourg and Strasbourg (France). Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices (the ‘General Secretariat’). Meetings of the whole Parliament, known as ‘plenary sessions’, take place in Strasbourg and sometimes in Brussels. Committee meetings are also held in Brussels. In addition to being one of the centres for the European Parliament, Belgium has a weird and wonderful system of government which divides it into three separate regions.  Then there are three other groupings based on language lines.  In addition to its own Parliament, there is a Royal Family.  All too complicated, but it seems to work.

The newer part of the city seems to be characterised by government buildings.  Many of which are quite interesting architecturally.  As well there are some government offices in much older buildings.  The single most outstanding structure, however, is the Atomium which is based on an iron crystal cell magnified 165 billion times.

But it is the old city that has the greatest charm.  Brussels' Main Square is breathtakingly beautiful.  Largely rebuilt in 1700 it has no fewer than 40 listed buildings standing either side of the majestic Hotel de Ville and the Maison du Roi.  Brussels Grand-Place has recently been voted the most beautiful square in Europe. This comes as no surprise.  We've never seen so much wonderful architecture in such a small space. The  Hotel de Ville, a magnificent structure, stands 96 metres (315 ft) tall and is capped by a 3 metre (12 ft) statue of Saint Michael slaying a demon.

Maison du Roi

Hotel de Ville

Old Guildhalls

We knew that Brussels was known for its beer and its chocolates.  There are approximately 125 breweries in the country producing about 800 standard beers. When special one-off beers are included, the total number of Belgian beers is approximately 8,700.

Belgian chocolate is considered to be the gourmet standard by which all other chocolate confections are measured.. What makes Belgian chocolate unique is the quality of ingredients and an almost fanatical adherence to Old World manufacturing techniques. Even in today's world of automation and mass production, most Belgian chocolate is still made by hand in small shops using original equipment. I have set as my goal to sample every type of chocolate found here and expect to have completed the task sometime around the year 2110  or die trying.  What a way to go.  All around the square and all through the city there are magnificent chocolates.

Where to begin?

Like many if not all the countries of Europe, Belgium is multi-lingual.  Go into any shop or restaurant and you will find that salespeople and waiters will speak French, English and Flemish as a matter of course.  Many also speak German, Italian and Spanish.  It is a great and wonderful gift to be multi-lingual and when you live in a region in which many different languages are spoken, it is natural to be conversant with more than your own tongue.  This is something truly missing in Australia and the United States where the great majority of people know and speak only their own language.

Of course, lunch on the square, in the open air, comes at a price.  But why wouldn't one enjoy the moment in such beautiful spring sunshine.  After all we may never be here again.  Carpe Diem.

On to Belgium

Packing done, breakfast downed we said farewell to the German YMCA.  Just for those who might be interested, here are a couple of pictures: one of the front desk and one of the breakfast bar.

Reception at Lancaster Hall Hotel

The Breakfast Bar

The staff there are wonderful and we recommend the hotel highly for travellers on a budget.  One word of warning, however, it is not air-conditioned and while we have not stayed there in the summer months, we suspect it could be a bit warm.

It wasn't long before  we were on our way to St Pancras to get the Eurostar for Brussels.  Everything went smoothly and within two and a half hours of boarding the train, we were in Belgium.

Eurostar

 Although we have travelled on the Eurostar frequently, I think for the first time we noticed it has become a bit shabby.  The seats were looking somewhat the worse for wear and the carpet seemed to be stained. But the speed with which it rolls through the countryside was undiminished and the world seems to whir by when you are travelling at more than 300 km per hour. 

Once in Brussels, we decided to walk to our hotel.  The streets around the train station are pretty unimpressive.  Lots of dirt and blowing paper. If you arrive by train, first impressions of the city are not good.  From the outside, our hotel looked run down, but once inside we found it to be more than adequate with a room at least twice the size of any other we have had in Europe.

After unpacking we walked up to the central square in the old part of the city. On our stroll there were a number of interesting things to be seen.  Here, for example, is a drain cover with faces on it

A Drain Cover in Brussels

and a wonderful statue of an old lady reaching into her purse to pay for something.

That was HOW much?

As for the old square, it is magnificent.  We stopped for a drink and then wandered around, totally overwhelmed by the buildings we saw.

On the Square

Another building on the square

Smaller buildings on the sqaure

Detail from top of building

After a pleasant meal we headed back to the hotel.  Tomorrow our visit to Belgium starts in earnest.

London, Day 6

Portobello Road Sign

Today we went to two different "markets."  We started by going to Portobello Road in Notting Hill Gate, one of the greatest of the London street markets.  Here you can find anything you want.  The display of fruit, flowers and vegetables runs for well over two blocks and there are other sections devoted to clothing and antiques. 

Stalls at the Portobello Market

Fruit and Vegetables at the Market

Clothing Sales at Portobello Market

We stopped for a coffee and watched the ebb and flow of people before once again throwing ourselves into the crowd. In the end, it was all too much and we decided to move on.  One sees interesting and funny things in the area.  One peculiar sight was a fully wrapped bicycle parked by the curbside.

A gift for someone?

After returning to the hotel to get rid of our coats, the weather had turned quite warm, we headed for Kensington and the Kensington High Street.

Once we got to Kensington we had lunch at one of the pleasant and ubuquitous pubs that dot the area.  The Prince of Wales offered a nice meal at a reasonable price.

Our Lunch Pub

Then we walked down to the High Street. One can't help but be aware that London is a city made up of many different and distinct villages.  Each seems to have its own character and ambience.  Some are quite small and truly they are villages.  Others are larger, rather like small cities.  Kensington falls into the latter category with a High Street larger than the main street in many towns.  It is easily the size of Collins Street in Melbourne, if not bigger.

Yet even in the midst of the hustle and bustle that makes up Kensington High Street, there are places of quiet and stillness.  One of these is the lovely St Mary Abbots Church of England with its peaceful gardens just off the High Street.

St Mary Abbots Church

Pigeons behind the Church

Daffodils at St Mary Abbots

It was a pleasant way to end our sojurn in London before returning to the hotel to finish packing for our next stop, Brussels.