Sunday in . . .Versailles!

Erica and Bobby were keen to head back to Germany relatively early, and seeing as Versailles was on their way, we decided that would be a fantastic use of our Sunday**. I've never been to Versailles before, so despite the rain, was keen to go.

First things, first, however, and we decided that sustenance was in order prior to beginning our tour of the Palace. Fortunately, a stone's throw from the famous front gates, was what turned out to be a lovely little creperie.  €13 bought a savoury crepe (or galette), a sweet crepe and a glass of cider. The crepes were enormous, made fresh to order, and just what we needed to set us up for an afternoon of sightseeing.

From there it was off to the palace! Since it was raining, Stephen and I decided to focus on the interior of the palace itself. It also had the advantage of being a rather "slow" day in terms of tourist numbers - granted it was still very busy, but much less so than usual. It was nice to be able to meander about fairly freely and not get caught up in too many large groups.


The organ in the chapel


a servant's staircase


guy with floppy hat (loved the hat)


This way? (No, that way!)


a brief lull in the rain


One of the things we enjoyed most, were some of the more "normal" people tucked into various corners of the many murals.


You! Put that back!


Reflections in the famous hall of mirrors


Marie Antoinette's bedroom


hall of emperors


a grander staircase


a chair in the King's study


still raining

Despite the rain, we then decided to take a turn in the gardens. Most of the statuary was still covered up from winter and only a handful of bulbs was poking through, but still I could start to see the resemblance to some of the grander palaces I saw in Russia (namely Peterhof & the Hermitage)

A quick cup of tea in one of the former gardener's quarters, it was time to say good-bye to Bobby & Erica and head back into Paris ourselves to fetch our bags/return the keys to the apartment.

And so another weekend in Paris came to an end, but what a wonderful weekend! It was great to revisit some of our favourite places and rediscover them with Nathan afresh as well as see some new and different sites. Not sure yet when we'll go back, but I'm hoping not too long after Stephen's exams are over. In the meantime, plenty more memories to keep us company!





** usually we try and attend the afternoon organ concert at Notre Dame

Saturday in Paris - a market & more art

[Ed: the full set of pictures can be found on my flickr page, but a selection appears below.]

After sleeping off the previous evening's indulgence, we got a little later start than strictly desirable, but headed off anyway to the Marché aux Puces de Clignancourt (The Flea Market at Clignancourt). This was a particular request of Erica's, and a very enjoyable way to spend a grey Saturday morning.


Despite a late start, when we got there it wasn't very crowded once we got back into the older part of the market. The stalls lining the street were full of the usual modern market rip-offs. But back here it felt a little more like the treasure trove it was reputed to be.


Erica, kid in a candy store


shiny things in the window


A cool stall that felt like a cross with an artists studio.


I loved this little ensemble


More bargain hunters

After a few hours of trawling through all the lovely and interesting things, we were starting to get hungry. So we headed back into the centre and off to one of our favourite little cafes - La Loire dans la Théière (the dormouse in the teapot - yes, that's an Alice in Wonderland reference).


And they keep to the spirit of their moniker.

It does one of the best brunches in Paris, and it's obvious because if you're timing is wrong (or in tune with the rest of the city's) the line is down the street. Fortunately, we didn't have too long to wait, before we were seated and eating. Sadly, I had to resist a slice of the taste citron (aka lemon meringue pie) as everyone else was ready to head to the next stop - Musee d'Orsay via L'Orangerie. The latter is where several of Monnet's Les Nymphéas (The Waterlillies) are housed in custom built rooms (there is a cool virtual tour here). Their permanent collection is also rather a treat and they had a pretty cool exhibit on Debussy and the Impressionists. Fascinating stuff.

The Musee d'Orsay, just across the Seine from & a sister museum to L'Orangerie, is set in an old train station and focuses on late 19th and early 20th century art. I managed a quick snap before noticing the "no photography sign" and a very disappointing frown from one of the museum volunteers.


Worth getting a frown for, no?

We focused our time on seeing the Art Nouveau sections (including a really stunning set of original rooms) as well as a fascinating set of galleries focusing on orientalism. I think for most Westerners, when we think "oriental", we think the Far East - Japan, China, Thailand, etc. For French speakers, "oriental" means rather the Near East - (modern) Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia. This was particularly interesting for us, having just recently been to Israel & Jordan. As English speakers most of our understanding of the region is filtered through English language historians, so to see it from at least a nominally French perspective was fascinating.

From there it was nearly time for dinner, so back to the flat to get cleaned up and changed. We had managed to book into Cafe Panique, which we had been to last time with Bobby & Erica and had promptly forgotten the name. A scouring of our guidebooks gave us a few likely alternatives, but we were very pleased to arrive again to this lovely spot (and amazing food). We splurged a bit on the wine, as it was Nathan's birthday celebrations, and it really couldn't have been much better. The staff are amazing, very accommodating and keen to ensure that we taste the best their corner of Paris has to offer. Yay!

From there it was back to the flat and asleep to get ready for our final day. . .

Friday in Paris, on the verge of Spring,

[Ed: the full set of pictures can be found on my flickr page, but a selection appears below.]

The trip started off rather less wonderful than usual with a wallet going walkabouts and a rather roundabout walk to the apartment after midnight. Fortunately, both were manageable with a little bit of laughter and friendly support.

Since there were 5 of us all together, we rented a flat for the weekend in the really incredible Marais district. Stephen and I stayed in this area on our last trip and loved it - still central and so walking distance to all the major sites, but that has a lot of character and a "lived in" feeling that many major city centres lack. The flat was perfect - loft style with a little kitchen and just enough space for everyone to have a bit of privacy. I think we will definitely do this again when travelling with a bigger group.

Once everyone was arrived late Friday morning, we decided to meander from our flat over to the Louvre. This took us past the famous Les Halles and on Nathan's whim we walked into St. Eustache - stunning! I can't count the number of times that we've walked past this church in the past and never stopped in, but I'm so glad that we did this time. It's an amazing piece of gothic architecture with some really beautiful niches.


The "back" of the church


One of the first niches you see, just inside the main doors


a beautiful statue, I think it's supposed to be Joan of Arc, though I could be wrong there


looking back down the southern aisle


A plaque stating that St. Vincent du Paul was once a parishoner


The organ


standing under the organ looking back toward the main altar

From there we wandered past the old Bourse (or stock exchange), which unfortunately had only just closed the public gallery for the day (next time, Stephen). So instead we stopped into a local little brasserie for lunch (nothing special) and then over to the day's main event, La Louvre!


Nathan, not quite believing he's finally in Paris!


a staircase inside the glass pyramid

From here, we all split up - Nathan headed off to see just how much ground he could cover in 3 hours, Erica & Bobby to head over to the Dome Church on the other side of the river, and Stephen and I to wander through some of the galleries we hadn't seen before. One of the things I love about the Louvre is that it is highly conducive to meandering and people watching, filled with hidden corners and an interesting mix of people. As the weather outside was stunning and it was technically a weekday, it wasn't too crowded which gave us a bit more space than we probably would have otherwise had.

Some of our favourite pieces. . .

a statue of Athena with a rather adorable owl


loved how the sculptor depicted this veiled woman


One of the galleries - can you tell it used to be a palace?


clay pot with the figurines laid out which were found inside


Stephen drawn to things with words on


One of my favourite galleries

From there we headed into a new (to us) part of the palace, the rooms that used to belong to Napoleon III and are kept more or less in the same arrangement as he had them.


a beautiful clock in a niche of the informal sitting room


heading towards the formal dining rooms


see? dining room


By that point my feet were starting to ache a bit, so we headed back out to the main entry to wait for the others to finish their wanderings. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait very long, as all three of the others turned up quite quickly. From there, it was definitely time for tea. Fortunately a highly recommended place was nearby (turns out it was rather more of an institution than expected, but a rather lovely institution) called Angelina. The pastries were absolutely incroyable (incredible). I had the olympe tart with a cup of Earl Grey tea (I love Earl Grey with violet flavoured things). Stephen had a selection of their very classic macaroons with very good coffee. Nathan and Erica both opted for the rather impressively rich tartlette eva, Nathan pairing it with coffee and Erica with Angelina's apparently famous (and worthily so) hot chocolate. Bobby opted for their homemade glace (ice cream) also with coffee.

After that kind of indulgent afternoon, there are really only two options: a nap or a long walk. Bobby and Erica opted for the former while Nathan, Stephen and I decided to swing past the Eiffel Tower. Even though it didn't feel so late, it turned out that the timing was perfect to watch the lights come on behind the Eiffel Tower as the sun set. It was stunning and probably one of my all time favourite memories of Paris. Thank you Nathan for prodding us in that direction!

And just in case you don't believe me. . .


From the Champs de Mars side


From the Trocadero side, with a really cute carousel.

Feeling very satisfied with ourselves and starting to actually get hungry again, we headed back to the apartment to meet up with Bobby and Erica. On the way (and literally down the street from our apartment) we noticed a little bistro that had a tasty looking menu and friendly staff. We stopped in and they said, why yes of course they could fit in a table for 5. Come back in half an hour? It turned out to be the fairly well-known Au Fil du Saison. And it lived up to it's reputation. The staff were super kind, witty and laid back - tolerating with great ease our varying degree of fluency in their native tongue, joking with us about our mistakes and generally guiding us towards the tastiest treats on their very generally tasty menu. The highlight of the meal though was the sauce that went with Stephen's dessert - a warm sauce of nutella and vodka. When the staff saw us passing around S's little cup of the divine substance, they brought us out enough glasses for us all to have one! The perfect end to a fantastic meal.

Even better? It was stumbling distance back to our lodgings. And so ended a pretty fantastic day in Paris. Two more left!

Next Trip: Paris!

When we were in the US over the holidays, one of our dear friends (Nathan) from OU was lamenting turning 35 and the fact that he had never been to Paris. Half jokingly I told him there was an easy way to fix that - and he is! So we're off with him on Thursday to share one of our favourite cities with one of our favourite people.
Double the fun is that our other friends Erica & Bobby (currently in Germany) will also be joining us for the weekend. So it will kind of be like a little mini-reunion, which should be great fun.

We're off on Thursday eve and back in London on Sunday night. The weather gurus can't seem to decide if it will be rainy & miserable or sunny & gorgeous, so we're deliberately keeping our plans quite open. One thing I can say for sure is that the trip will feature some wonderful tasty treats. One of my favourite things about Paris is the food - I've even scoped out a bakery nearby to where we're staying. Fresh croissants every morning? Yes, please!

This weekend is also St. Patrick's Day. I wonder if anything special will be going on? Perhaps the Louvre fountains dyed green? A pop-up Guinness tent under the Eiffel Tower? An Irish jam session in a gypsy jazz bar? Could be exciting. Stay tuned!

You can see pictures from our previous trips to Paris over on flickr: Winter 2009, April 2010, and May 2011

Israel - now in audio!

Right, so I promise this is the last post on Israel for a while (as you are probably tired by now of me harping on about how awesome it was), but there is one last really special moment to share. . .

Not long after I got back, I got in touch with one of my favourite podcasters, Chris Christenson of the Amateur Traveler to talk a little about our trip to Israel! It was so much fun and I was hugely excited to do it, since I listen to Chris's podcast every week almost without fail. Thanks for the opportunity Chris!

You can get to the episode by clicking on the link below or in iTunes (search for Amateur Traveler)

Amateur Traveler Episode 318 - Travel to Southern Israel


I also highly recommend checking out the other episodes. He's done a whole series on the American National Parks, loads of World Heritage Sites, and has an episode for just about every country on the map, if not more than one! I almost always listen again for places that I'm going to for the first time as part of my pre-trip planning, as well as using it to add places to our "bucket list". Chris is a great host and an obviously passionate traveler himself. This really is "travel for the love of it".

Photos & thinking back over our trip

We've been back a little over two weeks now, and I've finally managed to process, post & weave some of the photos into the posts from our trip. The full set of pictures (all 425 of them!) is over on flickr and can be found by clicking here. Hope you enjoy them!

I've also been thinking back through the trip trying to digest everything we did and saw. It was definitely one of our most memorable trips that we've taken in some time. I'm actually really pleased that we did it as more of a "backpacker" style trip, rather than going more up market. I think this let us meet more of the local people and gave us a better sense of the country than we might otherwise have gotten. It was these interactions, most notably at Shkedi's & The Green backpackers, that really made me feel like I truly got to know a bit more of the spirit of this remarkable nation. So a huge shout out to Gideon & Yahov! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us and sharing your love of your country with us.

That said, even where we were, there was still evidence of a very divided society. Arabs segregated (by choice or otherwise) form Jews segregated from Bedouin. Then even within the Jewish societies, the Russians, the Ethiopians (which Israel still celebrates rescuing) and others aren't particularly well integrated into the more (traditional? stereotypical?) culture, and seem to experience quite a bit of at least passive discrimination. While we felt perfectly comfortable (being white Americans) and were welcomed with open arms, I wonder if it would have been the case had we been otherwise. Hard to know, really, and no doubt the tensions were not nearly as bad as what I was expecting from reading the news on a daily basis. But still, it's not a country that seems to sit very easily with the fairly diverse population living there cheek to jowl.

I was also doubly glad to have had Branson, who speaks and reads Hebrew, with us. Not only because travelling with him is grand fun (even if he does encourage Stephen's morning person tendencies more than is strictly comfortable!), but because it made navigating a bit easier. We definitely could have done it on our own only in English, but having just that bit of extra language skill with us did make a difference. And in all honesty it was probably a good thing having someone with us who insisted on things like not stopping to take pictures of the military signs & bases. Curiosity will probably be my undoing one day.

We also really enjoyed being out and about in the countryside. Living where we do, we've been really focused on seeing the larger cities in Europe and haven't done as much "natural" sightseeing. A reminder we need to do more of this in future. Of course it helps that the scenery was stunning. I truly had no idea that a desert could be so beautiful. Growing up in (and having actively fled from) North-West Oklahoma, I tended to be dismissive of scrubby, dusty landscapes. See what I've been missing! It also helps that history quite literally falls out of almost every crack and crevice. It's mind boggling to think of how many pairs of feet must have trodden the same paths over the thousands of years . . .and this is in the middle of the desert! In that respect places like Jerusalem, Jericho, Hebron and Gaza must be truly amazing.

So Israel is definitely a place of contrasts, but also full of passion. The people who live there truly love living there and couldn't imagine themselves anywhere else. That these passions also overflow into less desirable traits is a given, but still it's pretty special to be somewhere where everyone loves their home so very much and in many cases have taken great pains to raise it from nought but rock.

We're definitely looking forward to going back, and with any luck again before Branson leaves in the next 18 months. I'm half tempted to try and do a beach holiday in Tel Aviv for my birthday, but with so much history around I doubt I'd lay on it's very beautiful beaches for very long.

Israel & Jordan - Day 10 (Last Day!)

After getting home from the pub, we started thinking about the logistics of getting us to our rather early morning flight, and decided that the most time efficient plan would be to sleep in a little and then stay up all night seeing Tel-Aviv. As the sole night owl working to morning people hours all trip, this sounded like a great plan to me! 


So that's just what we did, and planned the rest of the day around that. I was particularly excited about the English tour of the Bahai Gardens that was supposed to take place at noon, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to weather (I guess this is our pay backs for the beautiful weather we had in the South). So we did our own little tour, starting up at the Stella Maris Monastary at the top of Mount Carmel. It's the home of the Carmelite order, and most of the complex is off limits to the public, but the beautiful chapel was open as well as the front garden. We were the only non-tour group individuals there and it was a bit of a trick to try and respect such a lovely, sacred spot and navigate the crowds. I did get close enough however to see the cave in which Elijah was said to have spent time prior to many of his miracles, so that was pretty neat. 



Papal arms above the door to the monastary



monument outside the entrance



the main altar - Elijah's cave was just underneath. I couldn't even get close, so you'll just have to use your imaginations.


Tired of being elbowed, we headed over to the Bahai Gardens, which had a small section still open after all the rain. Since it is set on the side of Mount Carmel, the rain makes the many marble steps extremely slippery, so it has to close whenever there is too much wet. But we still got lovely views across Haifa and a bit of a break from the crowds. The gardens are breathtakingly beautiful, and I'm really quite disappointed that we couldn't see more of them, so it's definitely on my list of "must come back to" places.



Looking down on the gardens



another small enclave of the gardens



oranges - in February!



Great views over Haifa



Looking out over Haifa


From there we were getting pretty hungry, so we walked over to one of Branson's favourite seafood places, Jacko's. Super tasty! I had panfried shrimps in a saffron butter sauce and the boys both got whole grilled fish. All dishes were served with at least 10 different kinds of salad (including roasted eggplant in a tahini garlic sauce that was utterly divine) and homemade foccacia bread. 


Totally stuffed, we were very grateful that we had something of a walk back to our car. Though not quite stuffed enough to forego a stop at one of Haifa's best baklava shops. We got a "small" box which (once filled with all kinds of tasty goodness) weighed in at just under 700 grams (1.5 lbs). 



yummy yummy baklava


By this point it was almost 3pm and we were rapidly running out of time to get in any other sites. So we scooted out of town (after paying a parking ticket and then swinging back by the restaurant to retrieve Stephen's credit card that he accidentally left behind - thank you to our lovely waitress for keeping it safe!), and decided to stop in at a winery in a little town of Zikhron Ya'akov. It's one of Israel's oldest towns, being settled in the late 1800s. The winery shop we found first was that for Tishbi, which claims to be the oldest winery in Israel.  We were too late in the day for any guided tastings, and so had to content ourselves with tasting on our own (oh the horrors). We all three had glasses of red (me, the organic petit syrah; stephen, the syrah; branson, the pinot noir), but there was also a sparkling as well as a blush that all looked really interesting. I'll have to see if our wine merchants can get us any.



The shop



Wine!



Stephen, enjoying his glass of Syrah


We then spent a little bit exploring the little town - small space, but loads of history. Kind of the theme of the trip really. It has the country's oldest synagogue outside Jerusalem and the place where the local variety of wheat was discovered and bred for industrial cultivation. As it was getting dark and many of the shops were closing for the day, we decided to continue on to Tel Aviv to enjoy the evening.



One of the older buildings



a tree heavy with lemons



a tree with baubles



Not much too the town



But you can see why they might want to grow grapes here


We ended up parking down near the beach, and while the seas were still quite rough, they weren't anything like what we saw in Akko the day before. Still, it was beautiful to watch the rollers hit the breakwater on the nearly deserted beach. We also walked through some of the older parts of the city - past the covered market (closed), the old synagogue (also closed), down Sderot Rothschild (where we stopped at Cafe Hillbrand for a warm-up) and Allenby Street, past the new National Theatre complex (stunning piece of architecture), back down Dizengoff Street to the Square and then back to the beach. A brilliant walk that really gave us a nice flavour for the city if at a rather unorthodox hour.



a cool memorial



the house that Escher built?



Sderot Rothschild



The new theatre



stunning, no?



cool urban gardens around the theatre complex



a touch of Gaudi?



The waterfront (deserted)


By this point, poor Branson was utterly exhausted and it was going on 1am, so we decided to head to the airport early and bundle him off on the train. It was hard to say goodbye after such a great trip and it had been so long since our last get together. I think we all three agree that we really must come back soon (before he leaves next year) to finish off the highlights we missed and to keep up with each other a little better. Hugs and only hints of tears, but many many wonderful new memories.


After seeing Branson off, we settled in for the long wait. Fortunately, the airport has free wifi! This let us skype both our parents and do some catching up - like writing this post. It really is sad that our last impression of any given place always has to be airports. They are never ever the best side of any culture, and TLV is no exception. But after three hours of what passes for queueing, we're settled in at our gate and watching the sun rise over the city. Not too shabby, if a bit of a frustrating process (frustrating due to the total lack of organisation rather than anything to do with onerous security, I might add).


Soon it is back to our normal life, but for now I think we'll bask in the holiday glow just a little bit longer (and savour my last tea nana).