Israel & Jordan - Day 3

The original plan for our second day in Petra was to start with a dawn hike to the High Place of Sacrifice. This turned out to be more complex to arrange than we originally thought, since dawn was at 6:30am and the site didn't open until 8am. We thought about trying to arrange a guide (the Bedouin have special permissions), but after exploring a couple of permutations, we decided that this wasn't really going to be feasible. So we settled for have a fantastic breakfast at the hotel (tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh cheese, zatar, homemade bread, hard boiled eggs and halva - mmmmm halva) and arriving as the park was opening for the day to do the hike first thing. It was still a stunning experience even later in the morning - and again we had the path pretty much all to ourselves. The path was extremely steep with stairs cut into the sides of the cliffs, but the colours of the stone and the vistas back through the rest of the site at various points (a good excuse to stop and catch your breath!) made for a very enjoyable way up.


We've got our hiking shoes on!


No tourists, just a bedouin on his camel kicking up dust


Up and up we go


Jordanian flags in a cypress tree


Stephen being silly

The views from the top of the High Place (Jabal al-Madhbah) were absolutely incredible. We took the requisite pictures of the altar and explored the supposedly still psychically active obelisks (Zibb Attouff - I felt a thrumming, Stephen and Branson didn't, no surprise there).


One of the obelisks


Just a little bit of perspective


The place of sacrifice


Sitting nicely on the altar



Part of the temple complex still standing


We walked down the back side of Jebel Autuff into the Wadi Farusa which led us past the old Lion fountain. This was a natural fountain from the run off from the water from the cistern high above, carved into the shape of a Lion. The body could still be seen, but the head, where the water had come out, was completely eroded away, which was a very strange impression indeed.


what remains of the lion fountain


poor headless lion


down the stairs to the wadi floor

At this point, we picked up a living feline companion of our own (one of the Bedouin's semi domesticated cats) who followed us down to the Garden Tomb. It was named after a large garden once established outside what was otherwise a relatively plain fronted tomb. The garden was kept green by an elaborate system of cisterns and pipes, the remains of which could still be seen in spots.


The Garden Tomb as you come down the steps


a tree growing out of one of the cisterns


The front of the tomb, with a tiny remnant of garden


View from inside the tomb out into the wadi, also a nice picture of our feline companion


are you really going to follow us around all day?

The water management for the whole site was pretty incredible - there was no suggestion that it got any more water today than back then, and it was pretty desolate today. Seeing the remains of the various water delivery and capture systems, knowing that it had to support tens of thousands of people at one stage, is impressive and just goes to show that perhaps such ancient peoples aren't nearly as backwards as what modern mythology would suggest.

At this point,  We said goodbye to the kitty (the Garden Tomb  seemed to be the end of her territory), and continued little further down to another tomb (for an unnamed Roman solider) and The Coloured Triclinium. A triclinium was a special room which was dedicated to the funerary banquets common to the Nabateans. The "coloured" designation for this one was due to the extremely varied colours of the rock out of which it was carved. Unusually for many of Petra's carved monuments, the inside was just as decorated as the exterior, much of it was extremely well preserved and still visible.


The Soldier's Tomb


Inside the triclinium


beautiful pillars

From there we wound back down to the bottom of the Wadi which brought us out just above the main site, where we found the remains of where the normal inhabitants of Petra would have lived (mostly roped off for ongoing excavation).


another tomb


looking back the way we came


More tombs in the distance


playing photo tag in the ruins

Slightly further down the main track, we came first to a small temple and then to the appropriately named "Great Temple" above the colonnaded street.The main hall of the Great Temple was originally 160 meters by 80 meters, plus additional rooms for purification, hallways, cisterns and other not so small rooms. Much of the temple was still under active excavation and restoration (by Brown University), but there was plenty left to explore and discover.


Coming up towards the main hall


There was even a section where they had just exposed some of the original plastering on one of the walls.


They had also recently restored one of the key features of Nabatean architecture - elephant capitals on the pillars. Elephants weren't a common feature of the region, so I'm not sure where they would have encountered them. A mystery for another day, perhaps.


The back section of the Temple


door ways with carvings still evident


At this point in the day we calculated we only had about an hour and fifteen minutes remaining before we needed to head back to the front. Unfortunately this wasn't enough time for us to hike up to the monastery or to the other mountain top, the two options we were most keen on. Teach us for lingering so long on the original hike! It was at this point that we also discovered we were starving, not having eaten since breakfast.  So we opted for lunch in the basin (made up of excellent local cuisine - more salads, a phenomenal lamb dish in a yogurt sauce), looking out over some excavation works. There was a minor moment of concern when the power went out, but this was fairly quickly remedied (with no apparent concern on the part of the locals). We decided that this was probably a sign (and we only had about 45 minutes left to meet our driver) t0 take a rather brisk walk back through the tombs and the Siq to the front.

While we had an amazing time and are so glad that we took the extra half day (which day trippers don't get), we could have easily managed another day or two to see the rest of the monuments we wanted to see and do the rest of the main hikes. A third day would have been required to hike up to the Tomb of Moses which is also said to be in the same mountain range. Needless to say, coming back is pretty high on our list, though learning a small amount of Arabic would probably be a good idea. We managed pretty well for the time we were there, but it would have been nice to interact with the locals a bit more on their level. It really also must be said that all the locals we met were amazingly kind and welcoming - many (like our hotel clerk) went out of their way to help us or give us advice. Apparently the disturbances in Syria and Egypt has really reduced the numbers of tourists quite considerably, even though Jordan itself has been pretty peaceful. We are keen to come back to Jordan, not just to finish seeing Petra, but also to explore the rest of the country. It makes a huge difference to be in a place where you are made so welcome.

Anyway, from there it was just our cab ride back to the border, which our hotel was kind enough to arrange. Our driver was Hesham, who was an extremely talkative fellow speaking decent English as well as a handful of phrases in about 6 other languages!  He pointed out various features along the way (including the palace of one of the princes), which made the drive pass quickly. He gave us his business card and we will definitely be looking him up the next time we're back.

Then it was across the border (that same eerie, eerie walk) to Eilat , which was just as easy as the way over. Our car was thankfully exactly where we left it and then back to the hotel to clean up before deciding on where we wanted to get dinner. We stopped at the front desk for a recommendation since our first choice was closed, and the very kind lady clerk had a voucher for a nearby Brazilian place. Sounded good to us, and indeed it was good - great even! Though we ate more red meat in that single sitting than I think any of us had eaten in the past year - but it was soooo tasty. We even got our first taste of Israeli wine Tzafit, which was a blend of Marselan, Carignon, Carmelon and Pinotage. Super yummy all around.

Not surprising, once we got back to the hotel, we all fell into a food coma. Right before that, we decided that the next day should be taken pretty easy -  sleep in a bit and then choose either going to the beach or the aquarium and prehistoric copper mines at Timna. Stay tuned for which one we picked!

Israel & Jordan - Day 2

(Apologies, dear readers - I'm having a bit of difficulty with the picture files from my camera. As soon as that's sorted I'll intersperse the pictures here. In the meantime, enjoy the narrative of our first day to Petra!)

[Edit: the pictures are posted! The full set can be found here, but I've woven a selection into the narrative below to help give a better flavour of what we saw]

The next morning was another early start, but fortified with a great breakfast (fresh mint tea - hint this will become a theme - fresh cream cheese, toast & fruit) we headed to the border for the crossing into Jordan. Leaving the on the Israeli side, we went through the fairly straightforward process of leaving one country and entering the other. Straightforward, of course, unless you have a single entry work visa. Poor Branson! But he claims all will be well once he hassles the Interior Ministry again after our trip. So with only a twinge it was over the border for us. It's quite eerie walking through the no man's land between one country and another. We weren't sure what was supposed to happen, but it certainly didn't feel quite normal.

Once we were over to the Jordanian side, and had our passports checked another 4 times within about 100 yards, we exited the security zone to fine plenty of taxis, all of which were under the control of one fairly heavy set greasy man, who didn't so much negotiate as rant. It was unclear if his authority was driven by consent (he seemed to be the only person who spoke any English) or by coercion (everyone seemed to be afraid of upsetting him). I started the process of negotiating, which didn't really go as planned, and certainly wasn't anything that I've ever really experienced. In the end, we caved and so probably ended up paying too much, but for the distance we were going (150km/93 miles), it was entirely reasonable. And really, the crazy, taxi mafia man turned out to be the only unpleasant character of the entire trip.

Our taxi driver spoke virtually no English, but it didn't really matter since the drive through the desert was stunning and only a little hair-raising (lanes are apparently mere suggestions in Jordan). I certainly rued not paying better attention to the geology course I took at OU, all those many years ago. Winding through and up into the hills was really, beautiful and we saw the desert morph at least 3 times. Then in a little less than 2 hours we reached Wadi Mousa, near to Petra & our hotel.

The hotel (Valley Stars Inn) turned out to be quite the find - clean rooms and very friendly staff, several of whom spoke excellent English.


our lovely hotel


After a quick look around the room and dropping off all but the essentials we headed to the main attraction itself - Petra.

One of the key features of us staying overnight was that we could get a two-day ticket for a bit more than half of the cost for "day" visitors (people who cross the border, visit Petra and go back to Israel on the same day - I know sounds crazy). Ticket acquired, we passed through an unplugged metal detector, had our ticket clipped, and we were walking down the short path to the start of the Siq (canyon that leads to the front of the site). Winding through the Siq, you could feel almost as if you were stepping back in time. The rocks undulated and changed colour, sometimes the gap between the cliff face was only six feet across, sometimes wide enough for several carriages side by side. It was only moderately crowded (and certainly not as bad as many reviews made it sound) since the guides kept the larger groups a good distance apart and we managed to work around most of them.



A "djinn block" marking the entrance to the Siq


starting down the path, the canyon walls begin to envelope you


a very tenacious tree

 Every time I would come around a corner in the Siq, I'd hold my breath wondering if "it" would be the next thing I saw. Finally, you'd start to see hints of detailed stone work and wrought columns, until you finally see that oh so famous facade peeping through the crevice, before you know it you're out into the open not quite believing your eyes. The "Treasury" is everything that the pictures make it seem, and perfectly as ease in its surroundings. Yes, it is obviously man-made, but you can tell it is directly inspired by and fitted to the soaring coloured stone out of which it is made. Being there has its own majestic feel and provides a fit context for these beautiful tombs - because much of what remains (including the Treasury itself) is tombs.


the first peek


oooh!!!


and there it is


such incredible detail


almost classical in style, no?


From the Treasury, we walked along the central route, looking at the various facades, which had some beautiful rainbow stratifications, to the old theatre. The interesting thing about the theatre was that above the stage itself were additional tombs - obviously the dead needed just as much entertainment as the living! Unfortunately most of the theatre complex itself was roped off, so we couldn't explore the acoustics as much as we would have otherwise liked. But we got a few good snaps and little bit of a feel for the sound of the place, before moving on.


One of the older tombs, with bedouin children nonchalantly sitting on the steps


some of the pack animals the vendors use to get their wares to and from the main entrance.


a view of the theatre from below


What once have must been "backstage"


exit pursued by bear?


A view back into the theatre proper, see the tombs above?

After the theatre, nothing was really roped off and you could explore at your leisure, which we most certainly did. We took the path upwards away from the main path, towards the so called "Royal Tombs". This took us up along one of the ridges to some of the more impressive tomb facades including a more recent Roman tomb for Sextus Florentinus. The further along the ridge we went, the fewer other tourists we encountered until it was really just us in the canyon (Wadi al-Matahya). It was really quite surreal to be among these amazing monuments and have complete freedom to roam among them and explore as much as we wished.


Looking back toward the Royal Tombs from the front of the theatre


some older tombs where the facades have withered away


The "Rainbow Tomb"


Yes, the rocks really are that colour


The "Urn Tomb"


Inside the Urn Tomb


Pause for a photo shoot!


The "Silk Tomb"


Love the way it almost looks like it's reverting to it's original "natural" state


The "Corinthian Tomb"


How many more tombs are there?


Looking back at "Tomb Row"


From there, we headed back towards the main site along another ridge which brought us to the Byzantine church (still under excavation) and the Blue Chapel (the Christian presence prior to Petra being made a Bishopric). It was wonderful to be able to watch the archaeologists at work renovating the tiled floors, and stunning to see how what they were uncovering made such a sharp contrast to the tombs we had just seen - ornate outside, but very plan insides versus the church which had a very plain outside, but an extremely ornate inside.


walking back towards the church


part of the mosaic floor being restored


Looking back into what would have been the sacristy

As we were exploring the remains of the Blue Chapel, the afternoon call to prayer sounded. Never having been in a predominantly Muslim country, I wasn't quite prepared for how ubiquitous it was. Every small town bordering the site had its own mosque with its own muzzin. Since Petra is in the bottom of a canyon, the sounds from the neighbouring mosques echo through the complex. Beautiful and surreal, a mixture of ancient and modern.


I can almost still hear the echoes

From there we explored the Winged Lion Temple - one of the old Nabatean temples which was mostly ruined, but still had much of the overall floor plan and some of the key features still standing. This is where the running joke of "Nabatos" kicked in, which I will leave to Stephen to explain.


Side of the Winged Lion Temple looking back towards the Great Temple


a pillar still standing in the Winged Lion Temple


What most of the Winged Lion Temple looks like now

Suffice it to say that by this point we were hungry and loopy; not entirely surprising as it was approaching around 4:30 in the afternoon. We were going on 5 hours of site seeing with only snacks, water and sheer excitement to fuel us. The last shuttle back to our hotel ran at 5pm, so we decided to call it a day on the sightseeing front, knowing we would be back first thing the next morning.

We made the shuttle and cleaned up a bit before heading out for dinner. The guy at our hotel suggested a place called Al-Quantarah. Armed with a local map, we headed off only getting lost twice (and needing to ask directions from a very kind front desk man at the Silk Road Hotel on the opposite end of town) before finding the restaurant.

It was at this point we discovered just how few tourists really were in town. Every single restaurant we walked past had no customers whatsoever. Our restaurant was the same, and we had to poke our head in the kitchen (really felt sorry for the poor staff who obviously weren't expecting patrons) to find out if they were open. The maitre'd insisted they were, and so we sat down for what was to be a true feast of regional cuisine. The weren't any menus per se, but rather you ate the chef's choice, which  was reported to be the best of local Jordanian cooking. . . and it was delicious.

The first course was a series of salads - hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouleh, a salad of tomatoes & cucumbers (both with and without tahini), a roasted bean dish, roasted tomatoes and chillis dish and several others that we couldn't identify. Usually this would have been a meal in and of itself, but then they brought out 2 meat dishes - one chicken, rice, chickpeas & peanuts in a saffron and turmeric sauce (not dissimilar to biryani) and the other beef in a sesame sauce covered over with thinly sliced potatoes and cheese. Incredibly delicious and very filling. A dessert of something resembling caramel flan and tea/coffee topped off the meal as we rolled ourselves into the taxi back to the hotel.

The taxi driver turned out (not surprisingly) to be the brother of the maitre'd named Khalid. He was extremely gracious and shared a little taste of the local patriotism and kindness to travellers. Even though it was a very short ride, his warmth and graciousness were really infectious and topped off what has been a very exciting and overwhelmingly incredible day.

Israel & Jordan - Day 1

Thursday night, I had just managed to leave work at a fairly reasonable hour, and walked outside to discover, to my intense dismay, that it was snowing. Big, fluffy, I'm-going-to ruin-your-vacation snow. Our flight was scheduled for first thing out on Friday morning and if there's one thing that London airports do not cope well with, it's snow.

So Stephen and I grabbed a hotel room out by the airport (for the same price it would have cost for us to get a cab the next morning) to ensure that if our flight was going to leave on time, we would be on it.

Rising crazy early on Friday morning, we got to the airport, checked in and through security in pretty good time. We even managed to meet up with another pair of friends for breakfast as they were off on their epic adventure to Japan. (I envision a great swapping of tales with them once we both get back.) Then off to the gate to await our flight with bated breath.

In the end our flight only left about 40 minutes late, and was pretty uneventful all told. Immigration and Customs were a snap and, once through, there was  Branson, waiting for us, right outside the security zone. From there we picked up the rental car and drove South to Eilat.

The roads, I must say, are in really good condition and clearly signed in English, Hebrew & Arabic. Although it was dark, we got hints of some stunning scenery. Fortunately, we'll be heading back to this region in a few days for some hiking, so we didn't feel we miss out on too much passing through in the dark. There were also many amusing signs such as: "Warning, camels near road" and "Beware of tanks and dust clouds". We didn't get a chance to take pictures (it being very dark and no where to stop), so another to do for the way back. It's the little things sometimes that remind you how far you are from home.

But we arrived in Eilat around 9:30pm, checked into the hotel (Hotel Blue). We probably should have turned in, but, being restless from our long confinement, we took a bit of a wander around the sea front to stretch our legs and to see what passed for nightlife in an Israeli seaside town. The answer: not much. But then again it is deep off season so it's probably not the best way to judge.

Then it was definitely back to the hotel for a relatively early night, because the next day would also be an early one.

Israel Plans & Pre-Trip Thoughts

On Friday we are off to Israel, which will be our first to the Middle East.

One of the reasons we've not yet travelled to this corner of the world, and Israel in particular, is due to all the political upheaval and the rather complicated issues being hashed out there. I didn't want to go and unintentionally exacerbate the tensions, even in a small way. Fortunately, a friend of ours from OU (Branson - the same one we visited in California) has been there on a Post-Doc assignment for the past two years. Having someone who's been living there and has a better feel for some of the nuances of the overall situation will be a big bonus for us - it's also always more fun to explore a new place with friends!

When we were originally discussing the trip with Branson, I asked him "What's the one big thing you've been wanting to do and haven't yet?" Without much pause, he responded "Petra", which has long been a place on our bucket list too. Turns out, by far the easiest way to go from Israel into Jordan it seems is by the Eilat-Aquaba crossing. Then Stephen piped up that he would be keen to see the Negev Desert, which is in between Eilat and pretty much anywhere else. So we've built our trip around that. Our itinerary currently looks like this:

• Day 1 - direct flight from London, landing around 3pm, Branson meets us at the airport, we pick up the car & drive to Eilat (~5 hours) check into hotel & crash
• Day 2 - early, cross into Jordan and taxi to Wadi Mousa (nearest town to Petra). Drop bags at hotel & spend the rest of the day at Petra.
• Day 3 - hike to the High Place for sunrise and then spend the rest of the day wandering Petra. At sunset, head back to Eilat.
• Day 4 - depending on weather, we'll either spend the day splashing about in the Red Sea (with any luck snorkelling around some of the coral reefs or maybe swimming with dolphins) or if it's too cold, we'll walk along the beach (wiggling my toes in the Red Sea in lieu of aforementioned splashing) and then drive out to Mitspe Ramon. 
• Day 5 - Hiking around Mitspe Ramon, taking in some of the nearby crater. 
• Day 6 - morning, TBD (Negev Nature Centre? Some of the Spice Route cities?; in the afternoon, drive to our lodging near the Dead Sea & do some preliminary exploration
• Day 7 - sunrise hike arriving at Masada and the rest of the day exploring the site & surrounding area.
• Day 8 - if the weather permits, splashing about the Dead Sea; if not or in the afternoon if so, then another hike (Qumran Caves? Ein Gedi Nature Reserve? Nachal David Stream?) and/or (if I can talk the boys into it) maybe a few hours in a spa.
• Day 9 - drive to Haifa (where Branson is based usually) & sightseeing in Haifa (Bahai Gardens!)
• Day 10 - continue exploring Haifa and maybe take in a winery? Possible evening in Tel-Aviv? (will probably decide this on the fly)
• Day 11 - early AM to Tel Aviv (if not already there), turn in the rental car and fly back to London

As you'll notice, nowhere in there did we mention Jerusalem. When I got my guidebook to Israel (thanks Mom!), it confirmed for us that Jerusalem would probably need at least 5 days to do it any sort of justice, which is half of our trip and would make seeing Petra and the other sites hard. Not to mention that Jerusalem is the epicentre of most of the dispute, so it seems easier to leave it out this time and to plan a separate trip to see it plus some of the holy sites.

It's also shaping up to be a very active/outdoors-y holiday, which we haven't had for quite some time, and are really looking forward to it. The sunrise hikes might just kill me, but I trust the boys will let me sleep in on a few other days to compensate.

The guidebooks (both heavily tabbed & scribbled in) we're taking with us are:
DK Eyewitness for Jerusalem, Israel, Petra & Sinai
Petra: A Traveller's Guide

The weather so far is looking pretty good 20 C / 70 F for most places during the day, which is just about perfect. Nights will be colder, of course, so lots of layers included in our packing list.

Exciting times!

Archives Complete!

Right so! I've finally managed to import the rest of the archives over from the previous version of the blog. You'll notice that some of the pictures are missing - this is because I don't have those photos in an easily post-able format at the moment. With luck over the next few months I'll go through and start adding those back in. The posts that do have pictures date after I started posting my photos over on flickr, which also roughly corresponds to when I got my bridge camera. In November last year, Stephen gifted me my first DSLR, which I'm really excited about and have been taking pictures manically to get used to the settings before our big trip to Israel next week (more on that in the next post). Thank you darling! 

 It was great to read through those adventures again, and it really brings home what a wonderful aide de memoire having this blog is. It makes me more than a little sad to think of all those trips we've taken in between that are not only much harder to share, but also fading with every passing day. If anything could renew my commitment to the blog, that would be it! Expect more from us from here on out.

Fortunately, not all is lost as I have been (fairly) good at keeping my photographs up to date, and so in lieu of posts you can feel free to explore at least the visual side of most of our travels. I've linked to them below along with a brief blurb where needed. If there is any trip that you would particularly like to see a specific post (or series of posts) on, leave me a comment!

Bits of London

• Kensington Museums (with my photography friends)
• Pride Parade 2008
• Open Gardens  Weekend 2008
• Hampton Court (with several photography friends)
• Steam Museum (with our friend Rachel)
• Kew Gardens x2! Once with my photography friends & once with Rachel 
• Stephen's stint  as a mad scientist (part of the One & Other Project)
• Photography Rally in Trafalgar Square (I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist civil rights campaign)

Rambles (ie walks in the country)

• Chess Valley
• Tring (a revisit to our first walk)
• Faversham (with our friends Femke & Paul)
• Chilterns (with our friends Annji & Christopher)
• Isle of Wight (also with Annji & Christopher)
• Dartmoor (again with Annji & Christopher)
• Sussex (including a trip through several wineries)
• White Cliffs (the first set with my new DSLR!)

Around the UK

• Bath (with my mom)
• Stratford Upon Avon for the Shakespeare Festival
• Sailing in Ipswich (with our friend Bobby)

Further a-field

• Brugges (again with photography friends)
• Dublin (with my brother & wife)
• NYC (with my mom, her boyfriend, my brother & his wife)
• Baltic Cruise(with Stephen's parents, taking in Stockholm, Helsinki, Saint Petersburg, Tallinn, Gdansk & Oslo)
• Med Cruise (with my mom taking in St. Tropez, Sanary-sur-Mer, Barcelona, Bonifacio, Amalfi, Capri & Sorrento)

Welcome to our online home v3.0!


We are Stephen and Chaundra, a young(ish) American married couple who have hopped the pond in order to spend our time travelling. This is the place where we'll be recording the stories and photos of our adventures so that friends and family (and any random passersby) can follow along.


A little bit about us. . .

We’ve been living in London since 2004 and are loving every minute of it. We both work in financial services, but we spend as much as our free time as possible out and about, be it exploring the amazing melting pot that is London, walking in the gorgeous English countryside, be-bopping about Europe as the mood strikes us or planning trips further afield. 

Over the next few days or weeks, we'll be bringing over our archives from previous incarnations of our blog as well as starting to write new posts (usually authored by Chaundra). A calendar of upcoming travels can already be found here and you should see a link to Chaundra's pictures on flickr. With any luck, Stephen will contribute from time to time, but mostly he acts as tech support. :)

Coming up will be a link to a map of our travels to date as well as our travel "bucket list". If there's anything you'd like to see, let us know!

Welcome to our adventures!

First Trip to Paris - Day 2

On Sunday, we slept in a bit and then headed out to search for breakfast crepes before heading off for more sightseeing. We happened across a small place with a Greek seaside theme that was empty (seeing as it was almost lunch time) and had perfectly serviceable crepes and coffees. I'm not usually a coffee drinker, but find the French Cafe au lait (which is really a glass of frothed milk with a shot of espresso) to be tasty if mixed with several cubes of sugar.

From there it was off to see perhaps the most iconic of all Parisian sights - the Eiffel Tower. Again, you could pay to go up to the top, but we declined given the cold, but enjoyed walking about in awe of what really is a phenomenal feat of engineering.


There it is! Ladies and gents, it doesn't get more iconic than that!

What surprised me was how beautiful the metal work was on the tower itself - it's really a beautiful piece of art as well as an impressive structure.


An example of some of the detail that I loved


One of the lifts in the tower

In an effort to keep warm, we decided to take a walk through the Fields of Mars (Champs de Mars) over to the Rodin Museum


A look back at the Eiffel Tower from the Fields of Mars


One of the fountains in the Fields of Mars, turned off for obvious reasons



At the other end of the Fields of Mars, is the War School (ecole du guerre) and the Church of St. Louis at Les Invalides. It was closed to visitors, so we didn't get a chance to go in, but the outside is certainly impressive. Apparently Napoleon Bonaparte is buried inside. Another trip sometime.


The Church

From there, we took in the Rodin Museum. The (impressive looking) gardens were closed due to snow, but we really enjoyed the inside and exploring some of the lesser known works of this fantastic artist.

From, there we decided to head straight to perhaps the most famous church in Paris, Notre Dame de Paris. And goodness it is impressive. We arrived just in time for the weekly organ concert and had just enough time to wander around after.


The organ - incredible both to the eyes and to the ears


Chandeliers between the columns inside


From behind the main altar


a look up through the altar railing

At which point it was time to recover our luggage and take the train back to London. A great first taste of Paris - no doubt we'll be coming back (and soon)

Note from the future:
Indeed we have been back several times, discovering that indeed there is little better than Spring in Paris, which is now our favourite time to visit. You can find pictures of subsequent trips on flickr:
April 2010
May 2011