I have a few more photos that I’ve been meaning to share from my 24 hours in Paris with Mlle (in September 2022). Monsieur and I are setting off in just over a week for a month-long trip to Europe, including a couple of days in Paris. I’ve promised my 11 year old granddaughter I will finish writing up my last overseas trip before I leave for the next!
The following series of photos were taken on an early morning walk that Mlle and I did before setting off back to the Gare du Nord for our train journey back to London.
Jetlag has its benefits and we were up, packed and ready to leave our flat by 6am so we had a few hours to while away before setting off to catch our train later that morning. At the recommendation of Mlle’s Parisian friend, we headed to the boulangerie near Glaciere Metro station and were first in the queue for the 7am opening. The selection was “incroyable”, with every manner of bread, croissants and patisserie – it all looked mouth-watering. We settled on a couple of almond croissants (they were simply delicious) and headed off through the streets of the 13th arrondissment in the direction of the Jardin du Luxembourg.
It was late summer (1st September) and the trees were starting to turn a pretty shade of gold. At this early hour the streets were almost deserted with just a few corner cafes open. The honey-coloured light was so beautiful and accentuated the autumnal shades of the trees as we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the elegant gardens.
Heading east along the Rue Soufflot, we passed by the magnificentPanthéonbefore wending our way through the quaint streets of the 5th arrondissement and back to our little apartment. We collected our luggage and headed off to the Gare du Nord after a wonderful 24 hour trip to Paris!
You can find all my Parisian posts here. For now“à bientôt” and I’ll be back again in a few weeks’ time!
Just in time for Christmas, this is the 3rd instalment of my rather extended series of “24 Hours in Paris”. After spending some time on the Left Bank checking out the restoration project of Notre Dame (Part 1 here) and enjoying a wonderful lazy lunch at Le Petit Châtelet (Part 2 here), we headed over the Pont d’Arcole to the Right Bank of the Seine. The Pont d’Arcole is the main river bridge that leads across the Seine to and from Notre Dame Cathedral.
In no particular hurry and having been lucky enough to visit Paris on several occasions, we simply wanted to enjoy the atmosphere rather than rushing from place to place. It was a glorious late summer’s day, perfect for strolling around in the sunshine.
The Place de l’Hôtel de Ville is just on the other side of the bridge – the city is evidently gearing up for the 2024 Summer Olympics (we visited at the end of August 2022).
I could happily wander around the elegant Parisian boulevards for hours admiring the iron fretwork and impressive facades of the stylish apartment buildings. If we’d had more time, it would have been nice to follow the self-guided walk round the Grands-Boulevards, a little further to the north from where we were in the 4th arrondissement. You can read about these famous boulevards here.
There was one place nearby that I was keen to visit, which has a family connection. One of my major interests is family history, something I have been doing for many years. I discovered a long-held family secret (courtesy of detailed research and backed up by DNA) that my 2nd great-grandfather on my maternal line was a Jewish merchant whose father Levi Louis (Levistal) had moved to Manchester in the late 1820s. I initially thought he had come from Germany (as he had been born in Hannover in 1802). However in fact his family had moved from Hannover to Paris at some point, probably after 1808 when Napoleon Bonaparte relaxed some of the restrictions on Jewish freedoms within his terrorities (see here).
It is a complex topic and not one I have time to go into here (in fact I’ve enough material now to write a book!). The main point is that I found out that the Levy family (now adopting the name “Levistal”) moved to the Marais district of Paris (traditionally the Jewish quarter). Here they set up and operated a transport and logistics company along with a relative, Anton Hamberg (my 3rd great-grandfather’s brother-in-law). The head office of Hamberg-Levistal was Number 51 Rue St Martin in the Marais. This narrow street led north from the Seine and was in the heart of the old streets of Paris (later swept away in the mid 19th century by Baron Haussmann’s modernisations see here). The street was also famous for being at the heart of the rebellions in July 1830 (the headquarters of the Republican movement were at number 30 Rue de Saint Martin) and barricades were set up at various points along the street. It continued to be at the forefront of political unrest during the 1830s, in the revolutions of 1848 and later in the 1871 uprising. You can read more here.
“Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) showed his bare-breasted Liberty-Marianne in a Phrygian cap walking across a barricade thought to have been at 8 Rue de Saint-Martin in his iconic painting Liberty guiding the People. He wrote to his brother soon after the July 1830 Glorious Revolution: ‘I’ve embarked on a modern subject—a barricade. And if I haven’t fought for my country at least I’ll paint for her.’“
Part of the street has now made way for a modern shopping complex. I wasn’t sure of the exact number when we visited, hence many of the photos are taken outside number 4 (now the Police Prefecture) not 51 but it was fascinating to be there and imagine that my family had once lived here during turbulent times. I know the business was in operation from at least the 1830s to 1840s and by implication earlier. Both my 4 times great-grandparents are buried in the Montparnasse Cemetary in the 14th arrondissement (south west of the Jardin du Luxembourg).
We had a brief rest in the beautiful gardens of the Tour Saint-Jacques, situated by the junction of the Rue de Rivoli and the Rue Nicolas Flamel. It was a peaceful spot and a sanctuary from the bustling streets and nearby shopping malls.
The 52-metre (171 ft) gothic tower that dominates the setting is all that remains of the 16th-century Church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie (“Saint James of the butchers”), which was demolished in 1797 during the French Revolution (see here). The butchers in question were the wealthy patrons of the church who plied their trade at the nearby Les Halles markets (which closed down in 1973). Châtelet-Les-Halles station is situated on the original market site. The Tour de Saint-Jacques was also one of the starting points for pilgrims seeking to travel along the road to Tours and ultimately linking with the myriad of routes leading to the pilgrimage site of Santiago de Compostela in North West Spain. It is still part of the pilgrim route to this day.
By this time the afternoon was drawing on and we still had to get to the Pont d’Alma, the vantage spot for photographs of the Eiffel Tower, which I had promised faithfully to take for my granddaughters! We headed to the nearby Metro station (we had bought day passes for the relevant zones so could hop on and off as we pleased). Alighting at the Franklin D. Roosevelt station on the famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées, we stopped briefly to take in the view up the boulevard before wandering down the Avenue Montaigne. This boulevard is the home of many of the famous European couture houses, complete with security guards at the entrances. The clientele had parked their stunning array of Lamborghinis and Porches in the street – certainly a little out of our league but we could admire the shop windows!
We reached the Pont d’Alma, which was thronging with people including, to our surprise, television crews. Mlle realised at one point she had wandered through a TV interview. We had arrived on the eve of the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death – sadly she was killed in the road accident in the tunnel beneath us. Surreally we were also in England just over a week later when Queen Elizabeth passed away on 8th September.
The Pont d’Alma despite its recent sad associations is the best vantage point to get distance shots of the Eiffel Tower.
After sitting on the banks of the Seine enjoying the late afternoon sun, we headed back to our base near Glacière Metro station in the 13th arrondissement. Later we headed out to the Square Saint-Médard in the nearby 5th arrondissement, which had been recommended by our French friends as a good place to find eateries and cafes. It was a lively locality, obviously highly popular with locals, but off the tourist trail and we only heard French spoken. We had a superb meal at the restaurant Le Bel Ordinaire Rive Gauche – excellent food and fine wines. All in all it was a wonderful experience. Alas whilst researching this post I found that Le Bel Ordinaire has since permanently closed.The website is still online though – you can find it here.
I have one more Parisian post to conclude this series, which will be coming up very soon – à bientôt!
Hopefully no one has been waiting on lunch since my last post about the first part of our Parisian trip last year (see here).
Anyway, after an early start in London, journeying to Paris and exploring the area around Notre Dame, breakfast seemed a long while ago and Mlle and I were feeling in urgent need of refreshments. We headed off to find a lunch venue. Despite being on the trendy left bank, most cafes and eateries seemed to be catering more to fast food, which wasn’t really what we hoped to find in Paris. I remembered a little creperie and galette cafe/bar that Monsieur and I had visited in 2010 down one of the small side streets near the Seine, but unfortunately we had no luck in finding it.
We therefore decided to try out the restaurant next to the Shakespeare and Company book shop on the opposite side of the Seine from Notre Dame. Restaurant Le Petit Châtelet had an authentic French vibe to it – there were a couple of people smartly dressed in business attire (probably on their lunch break from a nearby office) but luckily for us it was far less crowded than the adjacent pizzerias.I think this was mainly because it was getting close to 2pm and towards the end of the traditional French lunch break. We had noticed far more patrons when we had walked past half an hour or so earlier.
The menu offered traditional French regional dishes in a bistro style setting and the sidewalk tables under the traditional striped awnings were pretty enticing on a warm late summer’s day (it was in the high 20s by this stage).
Right on the cobbled street by the River Seine, it was the perfect spot for people-watching, chatting and enjoying the superb French cuisine. We ordered a carafe of the house white wine – a lovely crisp chablis perfect for a warm day.
Our first course arrived beautifully presented followed by the equally delicious main courses. I can’t remember all the dishes so am going by the photos. I had the soup of the day for starters and we both enjoyed fish dishes accompanied by various vegetables for the mains – all of a very high standard. By this stage we had the place more or less to ourselves and the wait staff, who were attentive and friendly, humoured me as I attempted to practise my rusty French!
We debated whether we could find room for any more food but when the waiter wheeled over the dessert blackboard with the various selections beautifully inscribed in the classic looping French writing style, we couldn’t resist.The chocolate crepes and double crème brulées (raspberry and passion fruit if I recall correctly) were superb and a wonderful finale to our meal.
I think it was a testament to the quality of the food and wine that we felt pleasantly, rather than uncomfortably, full afterwards. Re-energised, we headed off across the Seine to explore the other side of the river and the 4th arrondissement including the Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, the Marais and the Tour Saint-Jacques (coming up in the next instalment!).
Last year I did a relatively short trip (just over 2 weeks) to the UK to see my extended family for the first time since the Covid lockdowns and travel restrictions.
I went with my younger daughter, Mlle, who wanted to catch up with her London-based friends, plus had a wedding to go to in Portugal. We had a short stay in London initially and I blogged about revisiting old London haunts here, here and here.
However Paris seemed enticingly close, only a relatively short train ride away with Eurostar and it had been a few years since either of us had been there. We formed the idea that we could try and do a day trip there!
Mlle’s former flatmate (our London host and a Paris native) was somewhat sceptical and suggested an overnight stay was more advisable. Thanks to the generosity of her mother who very kindly let us make use of her beautiful bijou flat in the 13th arrondissement, we were able to make our dream a reality. We thought, “why not”? We didn’t know when we’d be able to do such a trip again and given all the travel disruptions of the past couple of years we decided to throw caution to the wind.
I don’t think a day trip would really be feasible unless you were going for a specific work event (as Mlle has done a couple of times when she was living in London). I also think it would be overwhelming and unrealistic to even do what we did (just over 24 hours) unless you were already well acquainted with Paris (as both of us are) and knew which areas to focus on.
All that aside, this is the first part of our 24 hours in Paris (we packed a lot in!).
I should add that we had planned the trip beforehand from Australia – we didn’t book last minute in London or anything like that.
I’ve travelled on Eurostar a few times on different routes (eg London/Paris, Brussels/ London) and fortunately have never had a bad experience. The most stressful part of the day was trying to get an Uber from Willesden (where we were staying) to St Pancras International Station at 6.15 in the morning. We were booked on the 8 am train and despite the throngs of people, easily passed through the ticket, security and passport checks (both UK and French Customs are done in London) without any fuss. I reckon it took us about 20 minutes or so to get through to the waiting zone, but I’d always advise allowing plenty of time even if that means hanging around a little while to board the train.
I meant to take some photos at St Pancras and also on board the train but in the end I realised I have precisely two photos, one of our “Pret a Manger” morning beverages and one a very blurred photo as the train departed the station!
We had booked Standard Premier Class, which meant we had a light breakfast served at our seats on the train – from memory it was pretty good.
Two and a quarter hours later we were in Paris (one hour ahead of London time). We took a taxi from the Gare du Nord to our lodgings on the other side of the Seine. Our only “duties” were to make sure the resident cat was looked after. He seemed a bit suspicious especially once his mistress disappeared off to stay at her friend’s for a day! He took up residence on the roof top garden (such an ingenious design in the middle of the city) but was lured back in by the promise of food. I’m afraid I rather overfed him, which made me very popular, but hopefully he didn’t put on too much weight!
By now it was past midday local time so we headed off to the local Metro station (Glacière) to catch the train into the centre of Paris. As I said before, we were staying in the 13th arrondissement, which is on the Rive Gauche (Left Bank) of the Seine and about a 20 minute train ride to Saint-Michel, the metro station for Notre Dame, our first port of call. Although quite close to tourist attractions, the Rue de la Glacière locality gave us a real feel as to how to live like a local in Paris – it was quintessentially French with elegant boulevards, small shops, markets and locals going about their business.
We were especially keen to see the exterior of Notre Dame Cathedral. We wondered what it would look like now that restoration work was well underway following the devastating fire of April 2019 (see here and here for more info). The fire broke out under the eaves of the old medieval cathedral, causing extensive damage and in haunting images beamed round the world, the iconic spire came toppling down. The stone facade and vaulted stone ceiling survived but the rebuilding work has taken several years. Much of the initial work was to make the cathedral stable enough for restoration work to start.
As we skirted round the city centre in the taxi en route from the Gare du Nord, we saw the rear exterior of the cathedral encased in multiple layers of scaffolding.
It was a surreal experience to finally be standing there in front of the facade with its beautiful stained glass rose window. It looked more or less as we remembered it but without the spire. The scaffolding around the side told a different story.
There is a comprehensive series of information boards surrounding the front and side of the cathedral explaining the history and the renovation project. We wandered round soaking in the atmosphere and marvelling at the scale of the work in hand. Most of the area is cordoned off to visitors but you can still take a look at the construction work and the vast scale of the project. The aim is for the cathedral to reopen for religious services and visitors in December 2024 (so not in time for the summer Olympics) but the full restoration work is not likely to be complete till 2028. I found an interesting article about the project here.
By now thoughts turned to lunch as we hadn’t eaten anything since our breakfast on the train a few hours earlier. We found a delightful spot for lunch – coming up in Part 2 soon!
Last year I wrote about the Nyoongar seasons here in the south western part of WA (see here). The concept of the six cycles of the year and their close connection with nature are a far better way of understanding the changing of the seasons in this part of the world than the traditional four season approach adopted by the European settlers. You can read more about the Nyoongar calendar here.
Djeran, which marks the start of “autumn” covers April and May. Here is an excerpt taken from the Bureau of Meteorology:
Djeran season at last sees a break in the really hot weather. A key indicator of the change of season is the cool nights that once again bring a dewy presence for us to discover in the early mornings.
The winds have also changed, especially in their intensity, with light breezes being the go and generally swinging from southerly directions (i.e. southeast to southwest). Many flying ants can be seen cruising around in the light winds.
Djeran has always been our favourite time of the year as the temperatures become milder and you can start to feel the chill in the air with the approach of the cooler months.
We headed down to the south west for a few days break at the end of March/early April. Apart from a bit of rain on our first day, we had glorious weather throughout our stay.
Since I’ve posted many times before about this special part of the world (see here for my South West Collection), here is a pictorial guide of our trip. We stayed at some lovely chalets (Wyadup Brook Cottages) a few kilometres south of the settlement of Yallingup. Our family, including our 2 granddaughters, joined us for a couple of days and it was the perfect location, slightly off the beaten track but still accessible to all the myriad attractions in the region. The cottages are all named after local flowers and we stayed in the curiously named “Pixie Mops” or, to give it its correct botanical name, “Petrophile linearis“
Our first day was the only one where it briefly rained but nothing like the winter storms we’ve been having here the past month or so (we’re now well into Makuru, the coldest and wettest time of the year). It fined up enough for a walk down to the beach at Yallingup. I always love the soft shades of sage green and muted greys along the south west WA coast.
We had a special belated lunch for my birthday at Cullen Winery, a perennial favourite of ours, which we have been visiting for many years and which I have blogged about previously (see here).
I did a short hike with our elder daughter along the Cape to Cape Track to a look-out point near Canal Rocks. The view was spectacular especially on a glorious almost cloudless day.
We came back to Canal Rocks (part of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park) on the last day of our trip. The wind was up a bit more than a couple of days earlier, but it was good to be able to walk out again on the wooden boardwalk, which has been reopened after sustaining considerable damage in wild storms in 2020.
Finally we couldn’t go back to Perth without stopping by for some sustenance at the Cape Lavender Tea House!
I’ve blogged about Perth Zoo before (see here) but thought the following photos were worth sharing.
We’ve been having a lovely Indian summer for the past week or so here in Perth and it seemed a good opportunity for an outing with our daughter and granddaughters.
The deciduous trees have gradually turned from green to beautiful autumnal shades of russets and golds over the past few weeks and the pathway leading to the Zoo entrance looked lovely. We also have a couple of plane trees in our front garden and I love seeing the gradual change of the seasons.
We usually try to visit the zoo in the afternoon as the crowds tend to die down somewhat (we were visiting during school holidays) and we’ve found from past experience that the animals seem to be more active at that time of day. Even so, we were treated to an unexpected surprise in the lion enclosure (well not actually in it but rather looking through the glass). Perth Zoo just has 3 lions now – a pair of lionesses, twin sisters Makeba and Uzuri who are 8 years old and a 9 year old male called Jelani (see here) who arrived in Perth late last year from a South Australian Safari park to join the lioness sisters.
The name Jelani means “mighty” in Swahili – quite fitting as he weighs 195 kgs and has a magnificent mane! Apparently he made the 2,750 kms journey by plane to his new home – that would have been an interesting experience for the baggage handlers!
We hadn’t seen him when we last visited the zoo in January (he had only recently made his public debut) and had no expectations so we were initially pleased that we had such a good view of the lionesses.
It soon became clear what had attracted the girls’ attention as suddenly just to the side of our viewing spot, out from his neighbouring enclosure strutted Jelani stopping for a little while to have a look at his admiring human audience. He then sauntered off evidently trying to impress Makeba and Uzuri (though I did read later that he is in fact a non-breeding male). After a while he strolled off back to the other side of the lion enclosure.
I couldn’t choose between all the photos we took so please excuse the Jelani “spam” (and the reflection on some of the shots which were taken through glass)!
After the initial excitement, Makeba and Uzuri resumed their afternoon siesta.
I’m not an expert on animal husbandry but Perth Zoo explains that their lion enclosure is set up in this way as “the non-breeding male is the perfect match to keep the pair company in a social structure that mimics the wild, improving the wellbeing of the big cats”.
Last year I wrote a couple of posts about my trip to the UK at the end of August/early September (see here and here).
Whilst most of the two weeks was spent up in Yorkshire visiting my family, I enjoyed a couple of days in London with my daughter, Mlle, before she headed off to Portugal for a wedding and I headed up north to Harrogate.
Once we had both recovered from jetlag and revisited old haunts in North West London, we had about half a day to fill in and decided to head into central London and play tourists in a city that both of us know so well. I lived in London for 9 years in the 80’s and early 90s and Mlle lived there for nearly 6 years before the onset of the pandemic brought her back to Australia in March 2020.
Covent Garden used to be our go-to place in the 1980s before the old East End was revitalised. It’s always packed with visitors but somehow that never seems to bother me as I’m always fascinated by the bric-a-brac stalls, cute shops and eateries and the general buzz in the air. I would say, however, that it does help to know where you’re going and, as always when travelling, keep a close watch on your bags and valuables!
It was just as well I was limited by baggage restraints as I could have easily filled a couple of suitcases with all the things I wanted to buy! I still managed to acquire a pretty antique ring with a gorgeous soft green peridot stone (nearly lost a week later when it fell unnoticed off my finger, only to turn up unexpectedly on the floor). Fortunately it survived the trip and is now safely back home in Perth. Apart from the ring and a few old postcards I settled for browsing and window shopping. I would have loved to have brought back some of the dainty bone china teacups and saucers that I found amongst the old collectibles and one or two of the beautiful silver platters, but I had to be practical.
We spent most of our time in the Apple Market, which you can read about here. Originally it was the home of the Covent Garden fruit and veg market but it now offers an outlet for local traders selling crafts, homemade jewellery, prints and paintings and on Mondays (the day we visited) antiques and collectibles.
Afterwards we wandered around the colourful streets checking out some of the shopfronts before wandering down towards Trafalgar Square and Westminster.
I hadn’t seen Big Ben since it had been renovated and restored with the beautiful gold and Prussian blue paintwork reflecting its history (apparently this was the colour scheme used in Victorian times). Having been used to seeing the tower surrounded by scaffolding on previous visits it made for an impressive spectacle, especially as a backdrop to the grey storm clouds gathering overhead. Excuse the angle of some of the photos, which make it look as if we were visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa rather than Big Ben! We were dodging between traffic and throngs of people trying to take photos.
We wandered around Horseguards Parade too, not realising that we were on the brink of the end of an era with the Queen’s passing only just over a week later. It seems pretty surreal in hindsight.
You can find all my London posts over the years now collated here.
A bit late for Christmas but just in time for the New Year!
A few photos taken around Christmas-time here in Perth – a far cry from the heatwave of last year where we sweltered through relentless days of 40 degrees plus. This year, it’s been far milder with strong south-westerly winds. We’re not complaining though and next week it is forecast to get quite hot again (though hopefully not 40 degrees)!
Wishing everyone a very happy and peaceful New Year!
I’ve just been collating all the posts I’ve done over the years from London (see here). I have a few photos to add, which were taken on my last visit to London at the end of August/September 2022. Most of the time I was up in Yorkshire visiting my family but did have a couple of days in London, one at the end of the trip just after the Queen had died which I posted about before (see here) and one at the beginning.
Since this was Mlle’s first trip back since she’d left London (virtually overnight when borders were closing at the start of the pandemic in March 2020) we revisited some of her old haunts in the Queens Park and Maida Vale districts. It was interesting to be back in London after a long hiatus – it was August Bank Holiday so quite a few places were closed but we had morning coffee at Gail’s Bakery, a pleasant stroll around Queens Park where the leaves were just starting to turn autumnal and lunch (pizzas) at the Salusbury Pub, “Queens Park’s original gastro-pub”.
As usual we walked miles and miles in London, far further than we normally do in our day-to-day lives here in Perth!
After lunch we did take the tube, though, as it was bit too far to walk into central London and we wanted to explore the Covent Garden markets (I’ll do another post about that). Earlier in the day we caught the tube from Heathrow Airport to Paddington Station using the newly opened Elizabeth Line. It was about 6.00 am so maybe not surprising that we had the carriage to ourselves. The rail link had been opened by the Queen just three months earlier in one of her last public engagements (see here). We certainly managed to visit London at an historic moment in time quite by accident – quite surreal to think of the shift that occurred between the day we arrived in London and the day we left just over two weeks later!
Le Chic En Rose 