Paris - a long weekend

7 - 10 June 2013

Nearly 10 years ago I spent a day in Paris with my little sister.  It was a good trip and I always said I would come back. Now with my degree finished and 'im outdoors 30th birthday to celebrate we decided to have a long weekend there.

We had an early start and arrived in Paris just after lunch on Friday afternoon.  The trip had been smooth and uneventful but we were amazed at how hot it was as we stepped off the train.  We had left a cool cloudy England to arrive in a  a sunny 26c France.  
As with any new city it took us a while to work out the metro system but we soon worked out how to get to our hotel which was in the 17e.  We decided to buy a set of 10 metro tickets which saved us having to buy a new ticket for every journey and even saved us a little money. In the end we used two sets of these. 
We were staying in the Hotel des Batignolles which was small but nice.  The staff all spoke perfect English and  although our room was small and on the 4th floor (no lift) it was clean and tidy and offered views across the roof tops. Perfect for our needs. 

Playing Boules

Having dropped off our bags, we made our way out into the city.  
With the perfect weather and the possibility of rain later in the weekend we decided to start with the Eiffel Tower.  It was very hot which we were not really prepared for and so we sat in the gardens that surround the tower for a bit first people watching.  There was a great mix of visitors and locals, our favourites being a group of old men playing Boules.  We must have spent an hour watching them as they threw their metal balls aiming to get as close to the wooden maker as possible. All this on the rough sandy path. 
Finally when it had cooled a little we went to find the tower itself.  The queue must have taken another hour, but once again it was worth the wait for the view from the very top. On the way down we actually used the stairs from the 2nd floor which I really enjoyed. When we finally got to the bottom it was starting to get a little late.  We walked through the gardens and then into the surrounding streets to find something to eat.  We finally stopped at La Tour Maubourg where the food was very good.
It was getting dark when we had finished and things got a bit weird.  As we sat in the restaurant we had seen a guy dresses as the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.  Fair enough.  We then went to try and find the metro to get home.  Waiting to cross a road a group of maybe 10 went past on segways - all wearing cycle helmets (By the end of the weekend I think we wished we had a Segway each too).  Then a party on a bus went past.  That looked fun. Finally we crossed the road and stopped to check our map again. I am glad we did otherwise we would never have seen the Paris Roller go past.  This consisted of maybe 500 people on roller blades all on the road.  The police were there, the traffic was stopped and everyone looked in high spirits.  At the traffic lights they all waited for everyone to catch up then went off together, quite a sight to see in the dusk.
When we finally found the metro we also found the white rabbit again, only now he had lots of friends also in various fancy dress.  Were they going to a party or was it a party on the metro?  We will never know.

Back at the hotel it was hot and with the window open full of city sounds and I realised I had forgotten my ear plugs. Doh.

We did not sleep very well and were up by 08:30 on Saturday morning. We found a bakery across the street from the hotel and bought ourselves a light breakfast of pain aux raisin, and some mini quiche lorraine's for lunch, much cheaper than having breakfast at the hotel and meant we could get moving while it was still cool.  It would be another really hot day.

The Arc de Triomphe

Before we had even left the 17e we were distracted by a small food market and had a lovely wander round looking at all the bundles of herbs, roast chickens and chunks of cheese.  If we had been staying self catering I would have stocked up.
We then got the metro to a station half way up the Champs-Élysées. We walked up the hill towards the Arc de Triomphe with regular stops to people watch.  We were in no rush and just wanted to enjoy the sights and sounds of Paris. Once at the Arc de Triomphe we walked right round it and admired its size.  It really is huge.  We also paid our respects to the unknown solider from WWI before walking back down the Champs-Élysées; I wished I had my sunglasses. We found a park at the bottom of the hill and stopped here to eat our lunch. 
A bit more walking took us to the Place de la Concorde which seemed full of people and traffic.  I was glad to get across it and get to the safety of the pavement next to the river. We walked along the river in the dappled shade of many trees until we got to the Ile de la Cite. Here we crossed a bridge covered in padlocks, a strange type of graffiti which makes the bridge look like it has scales, and found a cool garden to sit in. Once we had cooled down we made our way to Notre-Dame, coming across a beautiful flower market on the way.  We had also run out of water at this point and while looking for somewhere to buy some realised that there were little green water fountains which we could fill our bottle up from. You can find these across the city and if they work are a great way to top up your water.

Notre-Dame from the back

Once at the cathedral we found another huge queue.  Although we did want to see inside, the queue in direct sunshine put us off and in the end we just walked round it and sat in the garden behind and listened to a French singer perform. 
It was starting to cloud over as we crossed the bridge over to the Quartier Latin.  Here we bought bread for tomorrow's lunch, French shops are closed on Sunday, and earplugs for me, and another park to sit and people watch in.  Once we got hungry we stopped at the Pizza Roma where I had really lovely cheesy pasta.
On the way back we stopped at a small supermarket and bought cheese and sweet biscuits for tomorrow's lunch.  We got back to the hotel just in time as the heavens opened and a thunder storm cleared some of the heat. 

Louvre

The ear plugs worked a treat and I slept much better. We woke on Sunday morning to heavy rain, but by the time we had finished breakfast, this time in the hotel, the rain had stopped, for now. We got the metro to the Louvre and although there was a queue it was not as bad as it would be later.  We spent the day wandering round the museum and saw quite a lot of old Egyptian artefacts and old European painting.  We were not that bothered about seeing the Mona Lisa, but with 10 minutes to go until it closed we went and found her.   I am not sure she is worth the trip on her own, but it was still nice to see her.  If you do visit the Louvre make sure you know what you want to see.  It is massive and there is no way you could see it all in a day.  Also if you only want to see more modern French art do not bother with the Louvre, there are other gallery's in the city which cover this time scale.
For lunch we had taken a picnic and ate it in the courtyard, our tickets letting us by pass the queue to get back in.
Once the museum closed we walked in the park until the rain got too heavy then we went to find a cafe for some tea. I think this was the only disappointing food that we had. We were not too late back and enjoyed a ’early’ night.

Our last morning before returning to England.  We nipped across the road to the bakery and got some more pain aux raisins for breakfast and a strange sweet bread for lunch.  A final tidy of our room and we checked out.  As we only had small bags we decided to take everything with us rather than have to come back for them.  We took the metro back to the Tuileries Gardens next to the Place de la Concorde, and found The Orangerie which holds a private art collection of modern art.  My favourite being 8 of Monets massive water lily paintings, so big they would have been too long for any of the walls in out flat.  I could have sat and gazed at them for hours.  There was also a temporary collection of Italian paintings which were stunning. 
We had lunch in the park and a last little people watching before catching our train back home. 
We saw lots, but there is still much more to see so no doubt we will be back again at some point. 

NB: If you go to Paris as an unmarried couple, be ready for everyone to assume you got engaged on your return.

Isle of Wight

24 – 28 June 2011

I love islands, which can be seen if you look at my wish list of places to visit.

So in need of a short break after the Egyptian adventure in January we decided on a long weekend on the Isle of Wight.  I hope that this will be the start of a collection of island based trips.

We started our trip from Portsmouth taking the 40 minutes car ferry to Fishbourne.  As it was still early afternoon and our ferry departed ahead of schedule, we decided to check out Ryde before finding our accommodation on the other side of the island.  Ryde is a large town which leads down to the Solent, but although we walked along the sea front we could not get to the sea.  Instead we turned inland and did some window shopping.  After a while it started to spot with rain, so we decided to try and find our B+B.

Chilton Farm near Brighstone

We were staying at Chilton Farm in Brighstone, and although we were staying as B+B guests, the farm also takes self catering bookings, so our tiny cottage had a tiny kitchen.  It was just what we were looking for, somewhere out of the way and quiet but close enough to everything for day tripping (although everywhere on the Isle of Wight is).  The full English breakfasts we received everyday were the perfect way to start the day.

We dumped our stuff, were introduced to the guinea fowl and took the short walk to the beach.  It might be a pebblely beach but here at last was the sea.

In normal life we live opposite a fish and chip shop.  We don’t use it very often, but it is nice to know that it is there if we need it.  Stupidly we assumed that being on an island surrounded by the sea, and after the evidence of Ryde, a chip shop wouldn’t be too hard to come by.  But chip shops are not marked on the map and so we then spent some time getting to know Freshwater, the closest large settlement to Brighstone, in the search for chips.

We did eventually find some, and very good they were with a sea view, something we never get at home.  Ironically having taken so long to find the chip shop we then seemed to pass it at least once every day for the rest of the trip.

St Catherine's lighthouse

The next day dawned gray, overcast and windy.  We had decided to visit St Catherine’s point on the very south point of the island and work our way along the coast, little knowing that it was also the day of the ‘round the island race’.  This meant that when we finally got out of the car and found the sea it was full of sailing boats.  The wind was perfect for them on this leg of the race pushing them on, but would slow them down once they entered the Solent to race towards the finish.  We walked to the lighthouse and back to the car before moving on to Ventnor where we walked round the shops, found lunch and watched more of the race from the beach.

We couldn’t find a sea view to enjoy our lunch and by the time we could see the sea again all the boats had gone.  It was strange to see the sea so empty having seen it so full. 

It was still cloudy and not particularly tropical but our next stop was the botanic gardens.  As garden lovers it was great to see some of our favourite tropical plants happily living outside in British weather.  I loved the grove of tree ferns.  I also rather enjoyed a cream tea (with home made jam) before making our way back to the B+B.  It was nearing ‘dinner time’ when we got back, but we were stuffed with cream tea, so we decided to walk out from the B+B down a road we had not tried yet.  This close to the longest day and with the overcast clouds it was very hard to tell just what time it was, it was close to 9pm when we got back to the B+B although it felt more like 7pm.  We saw lots of birds; yellow hammers, rooks and a little owl and also a hare.

Back at the B+B a small dinner and bed.

Sunday looked like it was just as overcast until we looked again and found it was fog.  We had planned to visit The Needles but knew we would not see much in the fog.  So after another grand English breakfast we decided to go to Yarmouth.  Yarmouth was thick with fog and walking along the wooden pier we found we could hear the car alarms on the ferry long before we saw it.

The harbour at Yarmouth was quite busy so we were quite happy to just sit and watch the boats come and go, until suddenly we realise we could see further and then a crack of blue sky appeared and there was the sun!

Maybe we would see The Needles after all, although we could still hear The Needles fog horn sounding.

We drove up to The Needles Fun Park which is the only place to park and costs £7.  A quick walk though the park confirmed there was nothing of interest there so we ate our lunch in the car park, watching the fog slowly receding, then walked to The Needles. 

The fog seemed to recede in front of us, so that when we arrived it was in full sun, but we hadn’t been able to see them until we got there.  The best views are either from The Old Battery, which is looked after by The National Trust, or from the site of the old rocket launching test site.  We started at The Old Battery, (with free entry as members of The National Trust) where we found out all about why it was built by the Victorians and then used in both World Wars.  There was even a tunnel to go down which takes you even closer to the cliffs.  The views were perfect, with white chalk needles surrounded by brilliant blue sea and sky and plenty of sea birds to watch.  Back on top we watched a peregrine circle.  Amazing. 

Scratchell's Bay

The sun was rather hot now and we wished for shorts as we walked up to The New Battery and the Old Rocket Launching Test site.  The walk was all up hill but well worth it as the view of The Needles was brilliant, as was the view of Scratchell’s Bay, which looked like something from a Greek holiday brochure.

The idea that secret test launches of rockets had taken place here during the Cold War was intreging and I wish we’d had more time to explore, but they were closing in 10 minutes.  

Walking back to the car we promised ourselves ice cream, but had to drive to Colwell Bay to find some.  It was worth it – island made Minghella Ice Cream with chunks of ginger in (mine was oriental ginger and honey) it was the refreshing treat we needed.  And the view of Hurst Castle on the main land was the opposite of one I’ve seen many many times.

To finish the day we walked to the beach near the B+B and watched the sun set.  A beautiful day.

Mottistone Manor Garden

Monday saw a more relaxed day, we started by visiting the tiny museum in Brighstone, which told us how people had lived in the village, most interesting of all was the display about the life boat, where men in a largish rowing boat would row out into the huge seas and try and help boats in distress.  I can’t imagine the bravery these men possessed to do that.  Most impressive of all is the numbers of people they managed to help.

From here we drove to Mottistone and the gardens at Mottistone Manor.  This is another National Trust property so another free entry.  We took it really gently after yesterdays hard walking and just enjoyed the boarders filled with flowers.  We took lunch in their café and had just got to the car to change our shoes when we had a heavy rain shower.  Once the rain had stopped and we had changed our shoes we walked up the hill to The Long Stone.  This was quite a short walk but up quite a steep hill through woods.  At the top you suddenly break out of the trees onto some grass land with a view of the sea and The Long Stone.  It is the only megalithic monument on the island and thought to be Neolithic.

As it was our last full day on the island we then drove to Yarmouth for a last cream tea or in my case ice cream milk shake with a fine view of the sea.

Dinner today was taken at Pizza Express in Newport.

Our last morning on the island was a warm one.  We’d decided to visit Cowes and so parked and had a good wonder among the shops, hiding when it rained, and walking along the beach in the sun.  To get to the ferry back at Fishbourne we had to cross the river but Cowes has no bridge.  You can either drive down to Newport and cross there, or take the chain ferry.  We took the chain ferry which cost us £2 and was not as exciting as it should have been.  If you were a foot passenger you might have been able to see things, but as the crossing is so short and we were in the car we saw nothing.  On the other side we sat in a car park with a sea view and ate our lunch before taking the ferry back to the main land.

Things to note:

The island does have a very good bus and train system and you could happily explore without a car, especially if you were staying in one of the small towns. 

The main cost of our trip after food was parking.

Cornwall and an English Summer

22 - 29 June 2007

After the success of Scotland we decided to try for a slightly warmer holiday.  So 7 days in Cornwall in June were booked.  Little did we know that the weather had decided against warm that week.  Being England we should have guessed.

The Devils Cauldron

It was already raining when we left in our hired car.  Not quite the drive we had going to Lossiemouth, but it would still take most of the day.  Especially as we decided to stop at Lydford Gorge for lunch.  We also decided to walk the 3 miles round the gorge which was beautiful and smelt of wild garlic.  We took it slow and enjoyed the views of waterfalls and were surprised at how many people seemed to march passed without looking.

This isn’t a walk for the faint hearted; in places we were going over slippery rocks and close to the river but it was worth it for the view of the Devils Cauldron at the end of it.  Here the water has cut away the stone and polished it as it swirls and splashes through, to stand above it is amazing.

We were staying in ‘The Old Dairy’, a self catering cottage on a farm along some tiny lanes near Turuo, where we arrive around 18:00.  That evening we watched the sun set over the sea while eating fish and chips.  A good start to the holiday.

The next day we visited St Ives.  I’d wanted to come here to visit the Tate Gallery, but the town itself was beautiful.  Compared with the London Tate, this one was quite small, but it was packed with art work and we had a good wander.  The sun had come out by now so we carried on to Barbara Hepworth’s house and garden.  I really enjoyed the museum, but then I am a fan of her work.

We thought St Ives was a lovely town, but signage isn’t their strong point.  We found the Tate, Barbara’s house and the car park more through luck and a willingness to keep walking till we find the thing we are looking for, than through any useful signage.

St Ives

On Sunday we visited the Eden Project.  It’s not how I imagined it would be, but I still enjoyed it.  We walked round the outside then went into the huge biomes, where the rain sounded like thunder on the roof.

I though all the information about renewable energy and recycling were inspiring, but I wonder how much of that inspiration makes it home.

On Monday we woke to flood warnings.  Heavy rain and winds made it hard to decide where to go, but in the end we drove to Newquey.  We stood on the cliffs and watched the sea crash on the beach, no one surfing today.  We had a walk round the shops, but were soon on our way back to the Dairy to hide from the rain.

Inside the Eden Project

The next day dawned dry if not sunny and we decided to find the Lost Gardens of Heligan, except there not really lost any more.  This was a real jungle garden full of bamboo and tree ferns and gunnera.  They had other gardens too, which were more organised and we spent all of the morning wandering.  Leaving late after lunch we stopped at Trewithen Garden on the way back.  Here we walked round their woodland garden, enjoying it nearly by ourselves before stopping for a cream tea.  I’d not had one before and it was delicious!  They also had swallows in their barn and we spent ages watching as the young who must have flown the nest quite recently came in and sat on the beams and chatted to us.

Our next excision was to Lands End.  I’m not sure what I was expecting really, but it certainly wasn’t a huge car park and a mass of shops.  Once you got passed the shops and amusements it was more like it should be, rocky and barren and cold.  But it looked like a lot of other bits of English coast so it was hard to believe that there was anything special about this bit.

We soon went back to the car to hide from the wind, and drove round to St Michael’s Mount.

St Michael's Mount

You can get to the Mount by a causeway, but it’s tidal, so we took a boat.  From the quay you walk up the hill, in places quite steep, to the castle at the top.  It’s surrounded on 3 sites by gardens on the steep sides and we walked though them.  Then for a moment the sun shone and the sea turned a brilliant blue and the gardens emerald green and I saw a glimpse of the Cornwall that everyone talks about.  Then the clouds came again and we went and hid from the rain in the chapel.

Our last day was spent at Trevarno, another garden, and then the beach.

Tervarno was lovely with a big lawn, woodland and lake and lots of birds, including peacocks and a golden pheasant.  I would swear that they posed for our photos, or maybe it was for our sandwiches?

After lunch we went to Godrey where we watched small black rubber seals bobbing in the waves by the cliffs.  Rather them than me.

And then the week was over and we had to make our way back home.

We stopped at Cheddar for lunch, but didn’t have time to have a proper look about.  Something for another trip maybe…