Category: Daily Photo

And here, inside the Pantheon is Foucault’s Pendulum. Or, as any long-time Amazing Race fan would say, the correct Foucault’s Pendulum.

Lisa left this morning, so the trip is ending as it started – with just Lucy and myself. There was a transit strike today, so we just walked around the city a bit. First, we headed over the Gare Montparnasse to check out the situation with the Air France buses that we hope to take to the airport tomorrow. As we suspected, the buses were jam packed and there are long lines. Guess we’ll have to get there darn early. After that, we went to the Pantheon (d’oh – see above), had lunch in a nice cafe and then strolled through the very lovely Luxembourg Gardens.

Images posted and by fellow traveler chanuck.

Here we are standing on a corner in Chartres.

Today (well, yesterday, I’m cheating a bit) we took a day trip to Chartres. It’s just an hour outside of France and the train system is pretty darn cheap and convenient. I was very happy, however, that the fellow who sold us our tickets let us know about the strike that started at 8pm. We made sure to catch a train that got us back into Paris before 8. The weather was awful, but Chartres is a lovely city with the narrow, hilly, winding roads I tend to think of when picturing a small European town. The cathedral there is amazing – positively huge and a world heritage site. And I particularly enjoyed the stain glass museum.

Image posted and by fellow traveler chanuck.

Jeff arrived today – on his birthday! We didn’t see him until dinner, however. He and Jenny were too busy checking out Swatch stores all day to be bothered with us.

Lucy, Lisa and I started the day at Notre Dame. Lisa climbed the stairs to the top (I wish I was in the kind of shape that allowed for that!) while Lucy and I planned to see the crypt. Turns out, the crypt is closed for this month. Just our luck! Anyway, I roamed around inside the cathedral since I hadn’t been yet (the rest of the gang went on my off day). Then Lucy and I sat around outside and ignored beggars until Lisa was done. Next up was Sainte-Chapelle – a stunningly gorgeous church on the other side of the island. After that, we wondered was so great about Le Concierge before heading off to the Arc de Triomphe. Lucy and Lisa climbed the stairs while I took the elevator (and 46 stairs) to the top. The views of the city are fantastic. Next we headed back to Notre Dame to meet up with Jenny and Jeff and, from there, roamed the streets in search of a place to eat dinner. After which, we posed for our traditional daily group photo. This will be our only one with Jeff (since we aren’t cool enough for him to hang with sans Jenny) and our last one with Jenny. She goes home very early tomorrow morning.

Image posted and by fellow traveler chanuck.

Back in my tourist shoes again. It was rough going from time to time, but I made it. We saw the Cluny museum, went to a huge old bookstore, bought some fancy tea, roamed around the Louvre, went to stare at the Eiffel tower lit up at night and then had an Italian dinner. Pretty full day!

Image posted and by fellow traveler chanuck.

Yep, no touring around for me today and, thus, I’m not in the group photo. My hip was killing me and walking was a so-so proposition, so I stayed in the hotel hoping that a day off would help. I now know every square inch of the hotel room ceiling. How exiting! Luckily, my friends had a good day and I can share in it a bit via their photos and stories.

Image posted and by fellow traveler chanuck.

We couldn’t quite decide which one of these we liked more. They each offer a little something fun – Jenny’s eyebrow, Lucy’s distrusting eyes, me looking tall… These were taken at the Paris train station shortly after we arrived from London via the Eurostar.

Our day had started with a wild goose chase – searching for a candy store that carried the kind of British toffee I’d promised to bring home for the lady who cuts my hair. I feel bad that I won’t have any to bring her, but we had no luck. Either the website was giving us the wrong address, the store’s closed or there are two streets of the same name in the city and the other one wasn’t on my map’s index. It was after the toffee search that we got on the Eurostar and headed to Paris. Where….

My day went down hill. My hip hurts so much I can sometimes barely walk. Why did I book a 12 day trip? Why? Six days into it and I look like this. I hope I feel better tomorrow. I already feel bad that I’m slowing my friends down.

Images posted taken and by fellow traveler chanuck.

Today we added a new traveler – Jenny – and had a pretty low-key day. We started off with some determined shopping Hamleys and then Lucy wanted to go to Harrods. After all that consumerism, we walked through Hyde Park and then met back up with Jenny for tea at the Orangery near Kensington Palace. Next up, the Terracotta Army exhibit at the British museum. After this decidedly high-brow event, we rounded things out with a long gab and gossip session and a night walk on Hungerford Foot Bridge.

Image posted and by fellow traveler chanuck.

Today, we took a day trip to Bath, England. It’s a short train ride and, since there were 3 of us, they gave us a group travel rate. Bonus! We took a bus around the edge of the city and enjoyed the country-side. We then walked along the river Avon and took 80 thousand photos of the 18th century Pulteney bridge (seen in the background of the group photo). After that, we had lunch at a Nepalese place. (Yes! I ate there – shocking, I know.) Then we went to the Roman Baths and, finally, took a bus tour of the very lovely and picturesque town.

Image posted and by fellow traveler chanuck.

The skies were clear and we were up early, so this day started at the London Eye – no lines! Woo! After taking a whirl around it and enjoying the views, we had to alter our plans to take a bus tour of the city as traffic was horrid due to the opening of Parliament. Can we time a trip or what? Anyway, we took a boat ride from the Eye to the London Tower. Quite nice, actually. Most of the afternoon was spent at the Tower. There’s so much history to take in. After that, we did the bus tour and ended up at Marble Arch after dark. Shouldn’t they light that sucker up or something?

Lucy and I started off today by walking to Westminster Abbey, walking around the abbey and then taking the Verger tour. After that, we met up with the newly arrived, quite jet-lagged but well-functioning Lisa. We ended up getting some take-out sandwiches and munched on them while people watching in Trafalgar Square. Next up, we toured St. Paul’s.