The London I Love

We bid Paris a fond farewell and caught the Eurostar from Gare du Nord.  Once again our train journey was hassle free and comfortable and before we knew it, we had arrived at St Pancras International.  We then took a short train ride to our studio apartment in Ladbroke Grove.  The apartment is very small with a fold out bed, so Michael and I will know each other very well by the time we leave!  It is only a 15 minute walk to Portobello Road, so we are in a good location and the local pub is only a 5 minute walk away.

Michael and I decided to have a gentle day familiarising ourselves with the city once more.  On our last visit, we had tried to visit the Crypt Gallery at the St Pancras Church, however it was not open.  This time we were successful in gaining entry and while the artworks were not to our taste, it was interesting wandering around the old crypt. 

We Are Family

Michael’s parents, Anne & Phil, have arrived in London so we set off to meet them at the President Hotel in Russell Square.  It was wonderful to see them both looking so well and I think that they were happy to see that their son hadn’t turned into some kind of hippy hobo.  We took a stroll around the corner to the Dickens Museum, which even though I have been before, I still found fascinating. 

 

We thought that Michael’s dad would like to see Sir John Soane’s Museum.  I have written before about this museum, which is crammed with drawings, models, paintings and antiquities.  I think Michael’s parents enjoyed the visit and I once again was able to marvel at the Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress and An Election.

Michael’s mum was keen to visit the Hunterian Museum – The Royal College of Surgeons of England.  This museum is full of medical specimens, some of which are quite confronting.  Michael’s dad was so very happy when it was time to leave!

Lunchtime was spent in Trafalgar Square where Michael’s mother showed us the smallest police station in London.  It is made from a hollowed out lamp-post and neither Michael or I would believe Anne when she told us what it was (there is no sign).  Anne tracked down a couple of security officers and asked them and sure enough, we were told it was true.  We have walked past there numerous times and never even noticed it.

We took a brief stroll around the National Gallery where I once again visited my two favourite artworks, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Delaroche and The Water Lily Pond by Monet (of course).  Michael thrilled me by buying me a Monet watch, which I have had my eye on for some time.  I think Michael’s mum and dad enjoyed the gallery, despite Michael’s dad commenting that he had seen the Mona Lisa & the sheila with no arms at the Louvre along with the biggest collection of bare bums at the Vatican, so really what more is there to see?

Saturday was market day, so we took Anne & Phil to the Borough Market.  Everything at the market is always so fresh and inviting.  Anne was interested in the flat peaches on display, as she had never seen them before. 

Anne wanted to see the Australian memorial at Hyde Park, so we wandered over to have a look.  It is an impressive monument and I was interested to see how many battles I was now familiar with after our trip to France.  We took a long, leisurely walk through the park, as it was a beautiful day before deciding to catch the bus to the Camden Markets.  One look at the huge crowd convinced us to head somewhere for lunch instead and we spent a nice afternoon at Brew Dog, which is a brewery.  Michael and Phil enjoyed a tasting paddle of beers each and we enjoyed resting our tired legs in the cool surroundings.

 

Sunday was a day of rest for Anne and Phil, as they were very tired from all the walking.  Anne said she felt like a contestant on the Biggest Loser with all the walking Michael expects her to do!  It was just as well they decided to rest as Michael had a big day of walking for me planned.  We started at Aldgate station and then walked to the Brick Lane Market, the Old Spitalfields Market and then on to Petticoat Lane Market.  It is always fun to see what is on sale and what people are buying.

Our walk took us near the London Museum so we popped inside, as I wanted to see the bronze head from a statue of the Emperor Hadrian, which was found in the River Thames in 1834.  I had read about this statue in one of Boris Johnson’s books.  We found the display, and then, as the museum was so interesting, we spent the next hour or two wandering around.

Sun's out guns out

Next, it was time to catch up with our honorary third son, Ben Borg.  Ben and his beautiful girlfriend, Nat, are in London with Ben’s mum, Terri, and her friend Liz.  We had dinner at the Shakespeare Pub near Victoria Station and it was lovely to spend a few hours chatting and catching up with the news from home.  We were fortunate to catch them as Terri and Liz were heading off to Malta the following day.  We are hoping to see them again in Ireland next month, as they will be touring there also. 

The next day, with Anne and Phil sufficiently rested, we headed to Carnaby Street to visit Choccywoccydoodah.  Anne had wanted to see this wonderful cake shop since watching a television series about it.  It is an amazing place to visit as it displays various elaborate cakes, which are more works of art than cakes.  We took advantage of the occasion to visit the café to indulge in some milkshakes.  We would have had some cake too however, the slices were so huge, we knew we couldn’t eat them all.

 

We then took a stroll through some of my favourite shops and arcades including Hamleys and the Burlington Arcade, where Michael once again purchased some violet creams for me.

The next day we did a lot of walking.  We headed to St Paul’s Cathedral and walked around the outside. Then it was off across the Wibbly Wobbly Bridge to the Tate Modern.  We had a look at the paintings on one floor but Phil wasn’t too impressed by them (I am with him on that one).  He did like the building, which is an old power station and is an impressive size.

We took the bus up to Sotheby’s S2 Gallery, as I wanted to see the exhibition, Banksy: The Unauthorised Retrospective.  I really enjoyed the works on display, as there were a number that I hadn’t seen before.  Michael didn’t like it at all as he felt that it was too commercialised for Banksy.  I think we will have to agree to disagree on that one.

 

Michael gave Anne & Phil the morning off as they had been good.  We had a slow morning taking in coffee and lunch along Portobello Road.  We met up with Anne & Phil in the afternoon to take them around the East End.  Unfortunately there was no market on at Petticoat Lane but we were able to see the Old Spitalfields Market.  We then took a walk around the side streets of Brick Lane to show Anne & Phil all the graffiti.  Michael didn’t feel like haggling, so we took the offer from the second restaurant spruiker we saw for dinner.  

Waltz Parisienne

Thou shall not pass

We caught the train from Le Havre to Paris, which was a very pleasant 2 hour journey.  The carriage was only half full and the seats were very comfortable and it was nice watching the changing countryside from the window.  We arrived in Paris to be greeted with 37 degree heat which was a bit of a shock to our systems.  We found our hotel and spent the rest of the day relaxing and exploring the area. 

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (see the lipstick marks)

The following day we visited the Pere Lachaise cemetery which is a very old and famous cemetery in Paris.  Many famous people are buried there and we saw the monument marking the grave of Oscar Wilde.  The statue is covered in lipstick where girls have kissed it and while we there, more girls were applying lipstick and kissing notes to leave at the graveside.  Apparently this has become a Paris tradition. 

Jim Morrison

We also saw Jim Morrison’s grave with a tree nearby where his fans stick chewing gum – very strange.  Eugene Delacroix is also buried at this cemetery along with Edith Piaff however we were unable to find their graves.  There are also a number of memorials to various aeroplane crashes and also monuments to the victims of the different concentration camps.

Holocaust Monument

We moved into our apartment in the 19^th Arrondissement, which is a bobo area (bourgeois bohemian), which is the French equivalent of hipster style.  Our apartment was on the 4^th floor – 75 steps up.  Michael and I needed the exercise after all the pain au chocolats!  The area was interesting and close to 3 Metro stations.

I took the day off from sightseeing so Michael could return to the Gustav Moreau Museum.  Michael fell in love with his works on our first visit to Paris and the museum is crammed with many of his works, some on the walls and many others in cabinets. Michael had a lovely time exploring and examining the artworks.

Gustav Moreau

We timed our visit to Paris perfectly again to coincide with the free museum Sunday.  We visited the Musee de l’Orangerie to once more gaze upon Monet’s Les Nympheas.  This visit meant even more, as we had since visited his magnificent garden in Giverny from where he gained his inspiration for these works. 

Next, we headed to the Musee d’Orsay however the queue was horrendously long, so we decided to head to the Musee national Eugene Delacroix instead.  There was a special exhibition entitled “the most legitimate of Shakespeare’s sons” which displayed the lithographs he had produced to illustrate various scenes from Shakespeare.  The works were very interesting.

We also managed to squeeze in a return visit to the wonderful Musee Rodin.  It was lovely wandering around the gardens with so many beautiful statues and we saw the area where the Christian Dior fashion show was to be held in the middle of the garden.

Musee Rodin

Michael and I took a long walk along the Seine, as I had read that a beach is created along the banks in the summertime.  Unfortunately, we discovered later, that we were about one week too early.  Perhaps we shall see it next year. We did, however, see evidence of where the bridges have had to be repaired due to the overwhelming weight of the lovers’ locks. 

As the apartment is right next to the Bassin de la Villette (part of the larger canal network), which had mini motor boats and bars on barges, we decided to try a barge out, aptly named the Antipode, for a drink on a wet day to watch the world go by.

BOBO Bar Antipode

In keeping with our literary theme in various cities, we decided to visit the Maison de Victor Hugo.  This was just one of the many homes that Victor Hugo lived in over the course of his life and it has been decorated and furnished as closely as possible to how it would have been during his lifetime.  The décor was lavish with wallpaper not only on the walls but on the ceiling as well.  

      

C’est Si Bon

Today we had breakfast in Belgium, lunch in Luxembourg and dinner in France!  We do like to share ourselves around.

We will have to return to Luxembourg, as obviously we weren’t able to see everything in a lunch hour.  We were in the new city, which looked very chic but as we drove out, we could see what appeared to be the remnants of a fortress.

 

Our drive continued onto the wonderful city of Strasbourg. I would describe Strasbourg as being Bruges on steroids.  Everything that is beautiful about Bruges is amplified in Strasbourg.  The old city is chocolate box perfect, the canals picturesque and the bridges numerous and lovely.  It is also much larger than Bruges, so you don’t feel quite as bombarded by tourists.  It also has the advantage of being situated in the Alsace region so there is a heavy German influence on the town as well as French.

 

 

Previously I mentioned that the cathedral in Amiens was the most elaborate I had seen.  Well, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg makes Amiens cathedral look like the plain Jane of cathedrals!  The cathedral was the tallest building in the world for 227 years and is simply magnificent inside and out.  There is a wonderful astronomical clock inside the church however my favourite thing is the statue of the clock’s maker, which peers over the balcony near the clock.

 

Michael decided that he would like schweinshaxe for lunch so we crossed the border into Germany to the town of Karlruhe.  We had lunch at a funny restaurant, which was actually two restaurants side by side.  We walked into one restaurant to look at the menu, but when we couldn’t see what we wanted, we walked into the other one.  We only realised our mistake when the waiter from the first restaurant suddenly appeared in the second one.  I think he thought we were a bit odd.

It was nice driving through the German countryside as there were mountains and forests, which we have not seen in France.  Michael enjoyed driving on the autobahn although everyone kept overtaking us even though we were travelling at 130km. 

We sadly said farewell to Strasbourg.  I certainly hope that we can return another day. 

We travelled all through the beautiful French countryside and returned to the Somme. This time we were to visit my great uncle’s burial site.  I had always known that my great uncle had died in France but didn’t know any more than that.  Michael turned to the family historian, Christine, and she forwarded some information.  The first surprise was that my great uncle’s surname was Uden not Beaumont as I had assumed.  It turns out that my great grandmother was married and widowed 3 times – talk about bad luck!  Michael has a theory that she was the village poisoner.  Michael did some online research and discovered that Corporal Reginald Uden was buried at the Stump Road Cemetery in Grandcourt.  The cemetery was located along a very overgrown dirt track however, when we arrived, the cemetery was as pristine as all the others we had visited.  We located the grave and as we had been unable to purchase any flowers, Michael picked some wild poppies, which I placed on the gravesite.  I am glad that I was able to visit his grave and can’t help wondering how many people have actually been there.  I do know that my great grandmother visited the place after the war.

 

I had read, in the Melbourne Age of all places, about an artist installation at the Thiepval Memorial.  When we arrived at the memorial we discovered a large ceremony was taking place to commemorate the front line of WW1 July 1^st 1915.   

There were bands and pipers and many uniformed soldiers of various regiments.  The art installation, The Lost Men, France consisted of 5 enormous silk banners showing the artist, Paul Emmanuel, with the names of the missing soldiers pressed onto his skin. It was interesting to look at.

 

Le Havre was our destination and it seems that here we made possibly the only error of our trip.  We had booked to stay 2 nights intending to relax in what we had thought would be a picturesque harbour city.  Unfortunately we were unaware that the city is very large, modern and unappealing.  Le Havre had been completely flattened during WW2 and after the war it was decided that it would be rebuilt in a modern style.  The result is some rather bare and uninteresting architecture.  Still, we managed to fill in the time visiting the MuMa gallery, which had some nice Renoirs and Monets.

 

 

If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

On the way to Brussels, we stopped at Waterloo, scene of the historic battle.  We visited the museum which Michael enjoyed immensely, however I must confess that this was one battle too many for me.  It didn’t help that the recorded commentator sounded as though he was on Prozac as he recounted endless statistics about the war.  More interesting were the video presentations, which were a little livelier in delivery.  Michael climbed to the top of the Butte du Lion which is the memorial commemorating the battle.  This memorial consists of a large statue of a lion facing towards France and it does look very impressive.

Waterloo Battlefield

Diorama

We arrived in Brussels and it was strange to be in a large, modern city once more.  After checking in to our hotel, we set off to find the old city. 

Main Square

One thing that I desperately wanted to see was the Manneken Pis, which is what I had always associated with Brussels.  I had always imagined a large statue, set in a grand fountain in the middle of an enormous square.  Imagine my surprise on finding a small fountain, no bigger than one found in some gardens at home, with a two- foot high statue on a street corner.  Certainly not what I expected!

 

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts houses some wonderful pieces and we were particularly pleased to see two Hieronymus Bosch paintings. We also visited the Magritte Museum, which Michael enjoyed.  I found some of his works a little too weird but I did enjoy Empire of Light.

 

In Bruges

Now that we were all “warred out”, it was time to head to a city that I, like many others, was inspired to see by the movie of the same name.  What can I say – it is picture book perfect.  The usual adjectives of beautiful, stunning etc come to mind but they really don’t do justice to the wonder of the city.  The mediaeval city has been exquisitely preserved and it is surely the most relaxing city to lose oneself in (except for the hordes of tourists, which are to be expected).  Lots of cobbled laneways, stone bridges, lovely churches and beautiful statues abound.

 

 

The highlight for me was catching a glimpse of the most famous dog in Bruges – Fidel.  Fidel is a golden Labrador who lives a charmed existence at the Cote Canal bed and breakfast overlooking the main canal.  He spends his days sleeping on a pillow in a gable window, sticking out from a mediaeval house over the canal.  Fidel has appeared in many tourists’ photos and he even had a cameo in the film “In Bruges”.  It certainly is a dog’s life!

 

Michael walked up the 366 steps of the belfry.  I remained below, as I didn’t like the thought of climbing the narrow, spiral staircase.  Michael enjoyed the climb and the view from the top of the tower over the old city.

Michelangelo Statue only one outside of Italy

 

We took a canal cruise around the city, which was spectacular.  We don’t normally do such “touristy” things, however Bruges in one city which is appreciated more fully from the water.  We took our cruise early in the morning so the canal wasn’t overrun with all the other canal boats doing the same thing.  There are 20 boats, which ply the river and by the afternoon it does look a little overcrowded.  We passed Fidel’s window but he was taking break from sleeping.

Bruges Brewery

A brewery tour was a must since we were in Belgium so we headed to De Halve Maan brewery. We spent a very pleasant hour touring the brewery and learning all about Belgian beer finishing, naturally, with a tasting.  One piece of interesting information I learned was that women between the ages of 50 and 60 years should drink one glass of Belgian beer per day due to its high oestrogen content.  I am not sure that I trust medical advice given by a brewery!