Adventure Almost Over

As I write this post I am laying on my bed in the hotel room in Frankfurt trying to cool off' This morning we left Prague bright and early.  We stopped for a few hours in Erfurt where my good friend Harry Maier and his wife Wendy showed us around some of the Luther sites and served us a yummy lunch and took us to a wonderful ice cream shop for dessert.  Then it was back on the train to Frankfurt.  Now we will try to get some sleep in spite of the heat (and our hotel room air conditioner isn't working) so we can get up bright and early again to get to take the shuttle to the airport and board our plane home.  It has been a wonderful adventure, some things recounted on this blog, others that we simply haven't had the time to write up.  We are looking forward to getting home to our own beds, but we sure have enjoyed these past weeks in Europe.

Reflections on Prague

When we first arrived in Prague, I had no idea what to expect. All that I knew about the city was based upon my wikipedia research. I soon found out that it is a great place, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I also soon found out that you "can't spit" without hitting a jewelery shop that sells either garnets or amber. Upon learning this fact for myself, I decided that my "significant souvenir" from Europe would be a garnet ring (I finally bought one today).

The garnet ring

We have done various things this past week - from attending a slightly bizarre marionette show of Mozart's Don Giovanni to a tour of Prague Castle. The actual castle was not what I was expecting at all, though I suppose I didn't know what to expect. Instead of a single large building, Prague Castle consists of many seperate buildings and is one of the largest castle complexes in the world. I especially enjoyed seeing St. Vitus Cathedral. I almost think I liked it better than Notre Dame, because the stained glass windows were vibrantly coloured, elabourate and striking and it was nowhere near as crowded with tourists. My favourite window was done in the Art Nouveau style and was actually painted glass. Overall, it was a very interesting tour full of good information and insights into various architectural styles.

St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle

Another highlight for me was going to see the Mucha art exhibition at the Galerie u Bileno jednorzce. I love the Art Nouveau style, and he is possibly the most famous artist of this era. I find the amount of detail in these simplistic seeming artworks quite impressive. It is also fascinating how much of this artwork was used for advertisments and magazine publications rather than as standalone prints. I ended up buying a book of Mucha's work, and I contemplated buying a collapsable umbrella (but I didn't - we have enough umbrellas).

Overall, I have quite enjoyed my time here in Prague. We had a lot of unique experiences and we pretty much did everything we could in the short timeframe that we had. I would definitely come back to Prague in future travels so that I may see more of what the city has to offer and find more joys to remember for years to come.

Jet streams above the Astronomical Clock Tower

Marionettes and More

Walking around Prague one quickly notices that marionettes are significant for the city.  Marionette theatre has a long history in Prague and there is a school here to teach marionette skills to new manipulators.  Based on a brochure we picked up we decided that we would check out the National Marionette Theatre's production of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni".  I didn't realize this, but in the 18th Century there were operas specifically composed for marionettes.  So we decided to take a chance on this following our supper.

Earlier in the day we did more looking around the old city, basically a time of wandering.  We also looked for a specific walking tour person to ask questions about what they offered.  They never showed up at the time and place indicated on the brochure, but I did talk to another walking guide who gave us some helpful information.  Monday we plan to do one or two of these walking tours.

One of the many beautiful old buildings of Prague.

After wandering about Prague, including walking over one bridge and back over another, we headed back to the apartment for a little break.  Beth and I walked to the train station to buy our tickets for Wednesday (so we don't have to worry about doing that in the morning prior to boarding the train). On this walk we discovered a whole new section of Prague, with different shops and restaurants.  However we already had our supper place picked out... I saw in the window of a place near our apartment a picture of goulash soup in a bread bowl - that looked yummy as well as being a decent price.  So once we got back from the train station we gathered up the kids and headed out for supper.  The goulash soup in the bread bowl was indeed yummy, and the other dishes we ordered we all quite tasty.

The Charles Bridge - the oldest bridge in Prague, now a pedestrian bridge only filled with artists and crafts people selling there work (or doing your portraits) during the summer months

After supper we dashed off to the National Marionette Theatre to catch the performance of Don Giovanni. The theatre was in the converted attic of an old building which we reached by climbing some circular stairs.  The performance started a few minutes after we arrived.  It probably would have helped immensely had any of us known the plot details to the opera since it was all in Italian and there were no program notes.  However, even without knowing the complexities of the plot we were still able to enjoy the skillful, and often humorous, work of the marionette manipulators.  When the performance was over we weren't even sure it was finished until the manipulators came out and bowed (there were six of them).  It was entertaining to be sure, and in the words of Thomas "That was sure different".

Part of the Prague Square in the old city at night.

Following the show we wandered about looking for some gelato to cap off the evening.  Prague looks lovely and mysterious at night and it was enjoyable just making our way around the old city.  There were buskers about, two of note - a jazz group including a trumpet player who at one point played both a trumpet and a flugelhorn at the same time, the other was a bouzouki player who was playing some incredibly fast lines on what seemed like a very narrow neck of the instrument.  After our gelatos we headed back to the apartment where Anna looked up the plot of Don Giovanni and we all had a good laugh trying to figure out which marionette was which character. Another day has disappeared and with that I realized that our time in Europe is quickly, and sadly, coming to an end.

Street to our apartment at night - mysterious and beautiful.

Impressive Impressions

We were told by so many people that we would love Prague that we were worried it wouldn't live up to our expectations, that we would be disappointed on this last leg of our family adventure in Europe.  We needn't have worried.  Within a half hour of arriving in Prague we were already in love with the place, we were impressed to say the least.

Our apartment was the first impressive encounter in Prague. After a great flat in London, followed by wonderful accommodations in Oxford, we were somewhat disappointed by the Paris apartment (the location was great, but everything else less than we had hoped for). Would we be further disappointed in Prague?  No, the exact opposite - because of a double booking we were upgraded and thus ended up with a beautiful and spacious apartment with a huge bathroom with both modern shower and large tube, washing machine and dryer, and two sinks.  There is another small bathroom (and nice feature because sharing one bathroom has been tricky at times on this trip. There are three large bedroom, a sitting room, a kitchen and a large entrance.  The appliances are modern, the beds are comfortable and there are easily accessible power outlets everywhere.  We are on the second floor of a historic building, in one direction we are just a few blocks from the town square, in the other direction we are only a couple of blocks from a main shopping street (with the largest Tesco grocery store we've seen yet - much to Joshua's delight).  In short this place is the best accommodation yet.

Our apartment in Prague. We are on the second floor - where the brown brick starts. It wraps around both sides of the corner - the master bedroom has windows on three sides!

The cleaning person was not quite finished with the apartment so we simply dropped our luggage and headed off to do some exploring.  We wandered the cobblestone streets marveling at the historic architecture, took note of the various museums and cultural activities available, and we located the main tourist information office which appropriately was right next to the famous astronomical clock. We grabbed a pile of brochures, did some more wandering and made our way back to the apartment to plan our time here.

Part of the skyline around the historic Prague square.

Beth and I went to the Tesco store for some groceries and discovered that food here (in the grocery stores at least) is cheaper than in Canada.  The alcohol is certainly cheaper, but so to is bread, cheese, yogurt, meat and so forth.  Our eating pattern in Europe has been to have a light breakfast (toast or cereal with yogurt and juice) at the apartment.  Then Beth might pack a lunch (depending on whether or not we will be close to the apartment that day or not).  Sometime in the afternoon we will have this light lunch (my favorite has been the baguettes with cheese and ham that we had in Paris).  Then for supper we would look for a restaurant that served traditional cuisine of that region.

Before supper on Saturday however we took in a concert of classical music in the historic Mirror Chapel of the Klementinum complex.  The group was a string quartet called the Chamber Ensemble Musica Pragensis, accompanied by a organist (playing an historic Baroque pipe organ).  The concert included works by Mozart, Bach, Handel, Schubert, Smetana, Dvořák, Pachelbel, and featured Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons". A few notes about the concert - it was very lovely to hear such music in such a wonderful setting - I could imagine myself time traveling back to the era when this music was first performed in rooms such as this.  The players were very competent, though I agreed with Joshua that while technically superb there wasn't a lot of emotional expression (I'm not sure if that was because of an artistic decision, or simply because the musicians were tired of performing the same program for tourists day after day - something I deduced the next day when I noticed the exact same concert being advertised again).  There were some tourists sitting in front of us talking throughout the concert - that is always irritating to me, I wanted to write a note and hand it to them asking "Why are you even here?"  I learned later that even Beth wanted to kick their chairs (so I wasn't the only one getting frustrated by such behaviour).  Regardless of these rude tourists the concert was still wonderful and a beautiful introduction to the cultural opportunities that Prague has to offer.

The Mirror Chapel where we heard a wonderful concert featuring a string quartet and baroque pipe organ.

Following the concert  we set out to find a restaurant serving Czech cuisine.  In the area around us there are countless places to eat - in fact our apartment is right above one of the best places to eat in Prague according to the Michelin guide.  That restaurant seemed a little upscale of what we were looking for, but a little bit of wandering in the historic area and we came across a place advertising the best goulash in town. I got some goulash (which wasn't quite what I expected but still very yummy), so did Anna (but with dumplings instead of rice - really big dumplings), Thomas got roast rabbit (he discovered he liked rabbit in Oxford), Beth's dish included some red cabbage that was similar to way our family prepares red cabbage for special meals (this has been the only time I have found red cabbage in a restaurant that is even remotely similar to the Hendricksen version).  Joshua ordered an apricot liqueur that was a lot stronger to what we are used to in Canada, it took a while for him to finish it off.  All in all a very satisfying meal, which being satiated we returned to our apartment for a good night's sleep.  A wonderful first day in Prague.

The Train to Prague

A few minutes to midnight we were able to board the City Night Line to Prague.  I was able to book room in a Couchette - this is the economy version of a Cabin - but one with 6 beds, good for our family.  First question - where does the luggage go - the train attendant said it had to go in the Couchette, it wouldn't be safe elsewhere.  So I begin to load in luggage to the tiny space when I notice a man sleeping on the bottom bunk on one side!  The ticket agent wasn't kidding - the train was full, every sleeping spot taken up. So much for a family only space.

So as quietly as possible we load our luggage and ourselves in, people crawling into their bunks and trying to settle in for the night.  We were able to put some luggage overhead, and a little under the bottom bunk, but some things (smaller bags) had to take up room on the bunks we were sleeping on.  I felt sorry for Joshua who had to squish his tall frame into a short bunk.  We all tried to get some sleep, but between the stops at various stations and the cramped conditions with a stranger sleeping below us it wasn't very restful for anyone (hence why we are letting everyone sleep in today).

One half of a Couchette - imagine a narrow aisle and the same thing repeated on the other side.

The stranger left us shortly after 5 AM - not sure which stop that was, but I was somewhat relieved - now we had the couchette to ourselves.  We all started stirring around 8 AM, and eventually we took to converting the bunks into seats so we could enjoy the scenery.  At this point we were traveling through a part of the Czech Republic that was somewhat mountainous - very beautiful countryside.  A train attendant came and asked if we wanted coffee or hot chocolate and thus we got our morning caffeine fix - a good thing after a restless night.

By 10:30 AM we were in Prague, standing on the train platform waiting for our local host to meet us.  Our Prague adventure had begun and everyone was getting excited for what we would discover in this city we've heard such rave reviews about - would it live up to our expectations or would it disappoint?  To give you a brief preview of posts to come - it hasn't disappointed, we fell in love with the place right away and it looks like a perfect place to spend the last chunk of our family vacation.

Mannheim - Shoes and Schnitzel

If you have been following this blog you will know that our original intention to travel to Prague was to take an over-nighter train that left from Cologne.  What we ended up doing, because it was the only option available, was to take an over-nighter from Mannheim.  Since we had to vacate the apartment in Paris in the morning, and we decided to take an early afternoon train to Mannheim, and thus have a little bit of time in that city - even though we knew absolutely nothing about it.  This was going to be a complete surprise.

The first surprise was that high speed train we were on - other than the group of children who sat right behind us and chattered excitedly the whole way - the trip went very smoothly in a very comfortable modern train.  Thomas saw the information board note that at one point we were traveling 300 Kilometers an hour! It hardly felt that fast because it was such a smooth ride.  I did a bunch of blog writing on that trip (the blogs posted yesterday).  The other surprise was a lack of WiFi on the train - I know we had WiFi on some trains three years ago, but this trip we've struck out every time.

First impressions of Mannheim was an industrial city, and after a little wandering that was confirmed.  Mannheim was the first German city to be bombed in World War I because of its industrial significance, and it was heavily bombed in the second World War for the same reason.  It was the home of Karl Benz, who lays claim to the first automobile ever to hit the streets (in 1885), and founder of what would become the Mercedes Benz company.  More surprising was this city's claim to be home of the world's first bicycle built by Karl Freiherr von Drais in 1817 and the world's first rocket plane built by Julius Hatry in 1929. Industry was what I noted first, but we soon discovered a place of great culture as well. Mozart spent a significant amount of time in this city which we discovered after seeing a flavour of ice cream in a local eatery called "Mozart" (Anna tried some and loved it) and a plaque that mentioned Mozart by the city square.  There was some kind of Arts School that we walked past and a lovely park near the old water tower that had Art Nouveau touches in the lampstands and water fountain (though being in Germany I should really have called this style Jugendstil).

Perhaps the most significant aspect of this city, as far as our immediate family was concerned, was the amount of shoe stores.  It seemed that everywhere you turned there were more shoe stores.  Given that three members of our family love shoes this was a very pleasant surprise, and indeed Beth ended up buying a new pair of Birkenstock sandals (with a lovely green strap) noting that the prices for Birkenstocks here were easily half of what one would pay in Canada.  We were wandering past all these shoe shops because we had a lot of time to kill until our train to Prague, and because we were looking for somewhere to eat.  As like all the other cities we've visited on this trip, the restaurants we walked past all seemed to serve foreign cuisine (in this case meaning Italian, Thai, Sushi, or American Burger chains).  Since the nice lady selling Beth the Birkenstocks could speak English I asked if there were any restaurants where we could get German food.  She wrote out the name and address of one and told us it was only an 8 minute walk from there. (Beth chuckled about German precision, not 5 minutes or 10 minutes, or even a short distance away, but a 8 minute walk!)

The historic Mannheim water tower and the fountain in the park surrounding it.

Much to our relief we discovered that Mannheim's city centre is laid out like a grid, like so many prairie towns and cities.  We simply had to find the corner of Q4 (they call this the chessboard city because of this layout).  Without too much trouble we found the Alter Simpl restaurant (on the main floor of a hotel with the same name).  It looked like an old European inn on the inside, complete with old wooden casks above the bar.  (When trying to translate the name I found our Alter means "old" but couldn't figure out the Simpl part) We were seated quickly and given English menus (a helpful touch) and we were all able to eat good German food!  I had sausages and sauerkraut, others had schnitzel and all of us had an enjoyable and filling meal - well worth the little bit of effort to find.

Interior of the Alter Simpl restaurant where we got some good German food.

A little more wandering, then some ice cream for dessert - this is where Anna was able to try the Mozart ice cream.  Finally as it was beginning to get dark we headed back to the train station to wait for our midnight train (23:59 technically).  We found a book store in the train station that had a small selection of English books and magazines, and since all our reading material was in the storage lockers with the rest of our luggage we picked up a few items and proceeded to spend the next three hours reading, wandering around the train station, or people watching.  I bought the brand new novel by Umberto Eco, partly because of his reputation for being an excellent writer, and partly because of the title "The Prague Cemetery" (which seemed appropriate because of our destination - the Prague part, not the cemetery part).  Imagine my surprise when on the very first page I'm reading street names in Paris that I recognize because the book (at least the first part) is set in the Latin Quarter where we had our apartment!

So that's how our time in Mannheim ended, sitting in the train station waiting for our train to come in - sounds like some kind of a blues song.  The train was a whole different adventure, but that will be for another post.

Eiffel Of Course

Thursday we were determined to get up the Eiffel Tower.  Earlier in the week we showed up in the late morning only to find a incredibly long line (made longer than normal because one of the lifts was not operating.  So we decided to check out other things that day, and promised to return earlier on Thursday morning.  We made a really good start and were at the Eiffel Tower grounds before the gates opened at 9 AM.  We thougtht we would be the crowd, but we were wrong - lots of other people had the same idea - but this time we were going to wait it out.  90 minutes later we were ascending the the second level of the Eiffel Tower - plenty high enough to see all around Paris, and given the wind that day we figured being at the top might not be a pleasant experience anyway.

While waiting in line a whole group of what looked to be Tibetan monks came to visit the famous Paris landmark as well.  I'm not sure they were actually from Tibet, and there were women among them (I wasn't sure if Tibetan Buddists had female monks). However they did create quite a stir amongst the crowd waiting to get tickets for the Eiffel Tower.

Buddhist monks (?) at the Eiffel Tower - they acted like all the other tourists, if not for their attire they wouldn't have stood out at all.

 Once we got up the tower we looked around at Paris, pointing out familiar landmarks, and locating where we were staying.  There were plenty of people up there with us - the Eiffel Tower gets 7 million visitors a year.  When it was built for the Paris Exhibition in 1889 it was the tallest structure in the world, and by the end of the exhibition it had had 2 million visitors, quite a amazing number considering the era and how fewer people would have been travelling in those years.

Beth and Joshua pointing out where our apartment is.

After a half an hour you've pretty well seen everything there is to see, and since the wind of blowing was rather cool, we walked back down.  We rode up the lift, but walked down - it was quite manageable and much faster than waiting for the lift. After the Eiffel Tower we went back to Notre Dame to get some more crepes and to return to a few stores we had found earlier in the week.  Then we headed back to the apartment following one of the walking tours Beth had in a book.  It was a tour through the Latin Quarter and ended up at the Pantheon, which is literally one block from our apartment. We realized on our last full day in Paris that we had only begun to scratch the surface - there is so much to see or do in that city, but alas our time was running out.

A view from the Eiffel Tower - the domed building on the right of the picture is the Paris Pantheon, our apartment building was right behind it.  This view is essentially looking over the Latin Quarter - the fascinating part of Paris we called home for a week.

The Drama of Juno Beach

On Wednesday we planned to visit the Juno Beach Centre.  This required a day trip to the small sea side town of Courseulles-der-mer, which is close to port city Caen.  According to the information Thomas got off the Juno Beach Centre website there were trains from Paris to Caen about once an hour.  In the morning, before leaving the Paris apartment we phoned the DB Bahn office in Paris to enquire about booking space on a train to get to Prague. We discovered too late that they don’t allow online booking after a certain point, and we had missed that. Fortunately I got a very helpful agent who was able to find us space on an over-nighter to Prague - but one connecting in Mannheim rather than Cologne as we had originally planned.  She told me that the trains are very full these days, thankfully there was still space for our family on one train to Prague.

So on our way to the station to catch a train to the coast we stopped at the DB Bahn office and picked up our tickets for the trip we are on currently (as I write this post).  When we got to station it looked like the next train for Caen was over a 90 minute wait - that didn’t seem right (according to the info Thomas had).  I noticed that a train from Caen had pulled in shortly after we arrived and I mistakenly assumed that that same train would shortly head back to Caen, so I went to buy tickets but the line-up at the ticket office was huge, so I decided to take a chance on a ticket dispensing machine. It seemed to work and thus we assumed we were set to go... but the train from Caen didn’t seem to be going anywhere.  So we asked at an Information desk - there we discovered two things: the train for Caen was indeed not leaving for 90 minutes yet, and we yet bought the wrong tickets for the kids.

Now we did have to get in the long queue at the ticket office.  Good thing we had that amount of time because it took Beth and I almost a full hour before we were served.  We managed to get the kids tickets straightened out and paid the difference (we had gotten a discount only available for European Union youth).  We asked the ticket agent when the final train from Caen to Paris left the coast - he said 6:50 PM.  That didn’t seem right, according to the info on the Juno Beach Centre website which said there were trains late into the evening.

So finally it is time to board our train and we are on our way.  The train ride was longer than we anticipated as well - we were counting on less than 2 hours, this train took over 2 and a half hours.  The bottom line is that we were pulling in to Caen around 4:00 PM, much later than anticipated.  I tried to figure out if the ticket agent was correct about the last train, and I found a printed schedule (but it was rather convoluted and tricky to figure out).

There was a regional bus service that would get us from Caen to Courseulles-der-mer, but we missed that connection and the next one wouldn’t be for another hour.  It was looking like we were going to get less and less time at the Juno Beach Centre.  I decided we would check about getting a taxi - lo and behold across the street from the train station was a taxi business which advertised about visiting the landing beaches with service in English.  Perfect!

The helpful woman who functioned as receptionist and dispatcher called us a cab big enough to fit all 5 of us.  It was there within 10 minutes and we were on our way.  When we arrived the cost for the taxi was only a few euros more than the bus would have been and we were dropped off right at the door of the museum (whereas the bus would have dropped us off at a stop in town requiring us to walk to the Juno Beach Centre which was a little ways out of town).  We asked the driver to wait until we found out for sure when the last train was.  We went in the museum and the good Canadian lads behind the counter helped us.  It seemed like the ticket agent was wrong and there was indeed a later train according to the info they had.  A few minutes later one of the young men at the Centre found us and explained that they double checked on the internet and indeed 6:50 PM was the last train (it seems we picked the one day of the week when there were fewer trains on that route).  So we had limited time - better make the most of it.

The Juno Beach Centre was well done, and started with a video presentation that asked us to imagine we were a young Canadian soldier in a landing craft (the room was shaped like the interior of such a transport boat).  I found myself getting quite moved by the video presentation and simply the idea of being in this place where so many sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazism.  The rest of the museum told not only the D-Day story, but also the pre-war, early war and post-war reality for Canadian soldiers.  It was well done, with interesting artifacts and lots of personal stories related through multi-media stations.

Two artifacts touched me deeply, the first was a temporary grave marker used to mark where fallen soldiers had been buried, the other was an actual helmet recovered from the beach years later - it had obviously been in the water for some time, and it had a single bullet hole in its crest.  A sad reminder of one soldier who did not come home.

An actual temporary grave marker used on D-Day at Juno Beach.

After going through the museum we went and looked at the beach itself.  I looked out over the horizon and imagined the HMS Belfast out there pounding the gun installments all along the beach where the Canadian troops were going to land.  Then I looked at the size of the beach - it was not very deep, but very wide.  This meant Canadian soldiers would have very little manoeuvring room once they landed - in so many ways they must have been like sitting ducks for the Nazi guns.

Juno Beach - looking out from the top of a Nazi bunker.

Sadly we needed to end our time looking around so we could catch the train back to Paris.  I’m sure Thomas could have spent another couple hours out there easily, but such was the reality of the train schedules for that day.  It turns out the taxi driver had figured out the time to get back for the train incorrectly at first and we needed another 10 minutes.  In other words we were leaving the Juno Beach Centre 10 minutes late.  Fortunately we had a very skilful driver who drove much faster than he was supposed to get to the station on time.  There were some nerve-wracking moments, and as I watched the clock tick closer to the time the train would leave the station I began to think about contingency plans (like booking a hotel in Caen and heading back to Paris first thing in the morning).

Well we got to the station with 7 minutes to spare, we ran to the platform and found a lot of people waiting there.  When I asked someone I found out the train was late!  In the end we had over 10 minutes to spare - the hair-raising drive back from Courseulles-der-mer wasn’t quite as necessary as it seemed.  The little bit of nerve-wracking experience our visit to Juno Beach was, I kept reminding myself how much more so it would have been for those young Canadian soldiers waiting in the wet dark of the English Channel, waiting for what I’m sure they could only imagine. I have a renewed sense of gratitude for their sacrifice (both those who died that June day in 1944, and those who lived the rest of their lives with the horrific memories of such a terrible battle, and the terrible things that had to take place for victory to be secured).  While our time at Juno Beach was short I still feel it was worth it - part of our heritage worth remembering.

A sculpture outside the Juno Beach Centre.

Brief Observations from England and France

As I write this we are on the train leaving Paris on our way to Prague.  It will be a long train ride, but that’s another story.  In this post I want to make a number of brief observations about England and France based on our time spent here in the past three weeks.

Olympics
While some of the Londoners are proud of hosting the Summer Olympics, the only city to have done that three times in the era of the modern Olympics, many are simply frustrated by the interruptions of their lives. For the past couple of weeks there are Olympic only traffic lanes, making the already congested center of London even more difficult to get around in.  Many Londoners are simply planning to leave the city during the Olympics, so much so that their was a PR campaign using billboards and posters saying “Who will cheer for them? (with a generic picture of British athletes) Stay for the games and support our athletes!”

The Tower Bridge in London adorned with the Olympic Rings.

Smoking 
When we first started wandering around London I was surprised by the number of people who smoked in public.  There is definitely a higher percentage than in Canada.  When we got to France the rate of smokers went up even more.  The most surprising (and sad) observation is the number of young people (in their 20’s and 30’s) who smoked.  In this regard I think Canada is far ahead of Europe.

Restaurants 
I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say that there are more restaurants in both London and Paris that serve foreign food than those that serve traditional cuisine.  There were many Indian and Pakistani restaurants and food stands, also Asian  places like sushi restaurants and Vietnamese cafés. We had to be intentional to find both traditional British and French food (though our efforts were often rewarded with excellent meals).

Attire 
Somewhat in London, but certainly in Paris, people dressed far more smartly than in Canada (or at least Regina).  Women were often in high heels and dresses, men seldom in jeans and t-shirts.  I brought my Saskatchewan Roughriders ball cap over, but soon discovered that very few people wear ball caps - in fact I can say with certainty that the ball caps I did see in public were primarily tourists from North America.  This attire was in spite of the modes of transport most used - the Tube or Metro, motorcycles, scooters or bicycles (I marvelled at women in high heels riding scooters or bicycles).  I guess that is why Paris and London are more centers of fashion than Regina.

Buskers 
Somewhat in London’s Tube system, but very much in Paris’ Metro system we encountered many buskers.  Such a wide variety of music, from jazz to classical, folk to world.  In Paris buskers would hop on a Metro train playing music while wandering up and down the aisles, a tricky thing to do on a moving vehicle.  Many of the buskers in the Metro stations knew exactly where to place themselves to be heard throughout the various corridors and stairways of the station.  Some of these musicians were heard long before we ever saw them.  Some were accompanied by background recordings using portable battery powered sound systems.  Often the musicianship was quite good, at least of the ones we heard.  The best was a group of four musicians that sounded wonderful (and no background tracks!) but too bad we couldn’t stop too long to listen.  Perhaps the strangest buskers were the poets - or at least that’s what I assume they were.  They would get on a Metro train and immediately begin reciting something (in French of course) and after a little bit they would walk through the car and people would give them money.  This happened 4 or 5 times during our week in Paris so it was some kind of repeated circumstance.  At first we thought they were beggars with some kind of memorized spiel that they rattled off, but after the third or fourth we began to wonder if they were poets.  So that’s what I would like to think they were, busker poets in the highly cultural city of Paris.

One of the many talented buskers we encountered taking the Metro in Paris.

Tourists and Pictures
Of course their were tourists everywhere in London, Oxford and Paris - this is after all high tourist season.  A scene I saw repeated over and over was people taking silly posed pictures in front of various landmarks (things like looking like they were holding up the Eiffel Tower, or leaning on Big Ben, or posing in the same posture as the statue behind them.  And there were simply cameras everywhere.  At first I thought I might stand out carrying around my Nikon DSLR, but it seemed like every second person had a DSLR of some kind, and those who didn’t have a DSLR they were still taking pictures with cell phones, digital point and shoot, or the funniest was using their iPad to take pictures (funny because it looked rather awkward).  Digital technology has now made us a culture of picture takers - snapping away almost everything (no film costs to worry about).  We we might all be picture takers now, but only some of us are photographers - concerned about composition and lighting and other such factors.  There were plenty of photographers too, carefully choosing their angles and subjects.  The neatest was seeing a time lapse photography setup shooting Notre Dame.  Speaking as a photographer I have been a little disappointed with the light over her this time around - last time when Beth and I were here three years ago we had great weather and lots of gorgeous light, this time there has been a lot of flat dull light, making for less satisfying pictures… but hey, I’ve got one of Anna posing in typical tourist fashion in front of Notre Dame!

Tube and Metro Etiquette 
We have been impressed with the general behaviour of people on both the London Tube and the Paris Metro systems.  There is an etiquette in place that makes getting around on the underground a reasonably pleasant experience.  There was very little rudeness, and people always tried to be helpful, moving out of the way, offering seats to elderly or women with children.  By the end we were very comfortable using this form of transport, it was fast, relatively easy, and certainly a cheap way to get around.

One of the platforms for the Metro system in Paris.

Souvenir Shops
Around the major tourist destinations (the London Eye, the Eiffel Tower, etc.) there are a proliferation of souvenir shops and stands.  They are often crowded and awkward to move around in, and they are stacked with souvenirs from floor to ceiling.  So much stuff, and yet after visiting 3 or 4 of these stores there gets to be a lot of repetition.  I think one could build a whole new Eiffel Tower just with the millions of replica miniature Eiffel Towers that were on sale everywhere.  The only reason to shop around a little bit is for better prices, and a general rule was the further away from major tourist spot the better the prices.  Anna got some t-shirts for example about a block away from Notre Dame.  About 5 blocks further way the same t-shirts were 2 euros cheaper.  We have done our share of souvenir shopping but we are also shopping off the beaten paths, for example Beth and Anna got some shoes and a dress down a great little street of shops close to where we lived in Paris.  While the shoes don’t have the word “Paris” stamped on them, they will certainly remember where they picked them up, and every time they wear them they will remember our time in Paris and the great little street of shops (rue Mouffetard) near our Paris apartment.

Well that does it for my little observations from England in France.  I wonder what I will observe in Prague?

A late return.

Let me start by apologizing for my lack of postings. I know I gave a caveat before this journey began stating that I likely wouldn't post much, however, I'll admit that the reason I haven't been posting is that I, myself, had fallen behind in the blog and didn't want to accidentally double-blog about the same incident.

That said, I felt that I would not be remiss in not giving some kind of recap for the last two weeks. I've decided to split these experiences into two separate posts to keep things more manageable, unfortunately they are still a bit long.

First up, Oxford.

I loved our stay in Oxford.

The Cotswold Lodge Hotel was a splendid little hotel. They had a wonderful little lounge area where guests could sit, relax, and catch up on some reading. We had some absolutely wonderful afternoon teas in the hotel bar, where everything seemed to be proportioned just right. The staff were friendly and helpful. And the rooms were a nice mix of country home contemporary, allowing the guest to retreat to a cozy space that felt both relaxing and modern. I would definitely recommend staying there if you ever have cause to visit Oxford. (Take this recommendation with a grain of salt, though, as I must admit I have no idea what this home away from home wound up costing us).

The beautiful Cotswold Manor.

Besides our lodgings, I would have to say that my greatest experience had to do with overall experience. One of the main things which has stayed with me through this trip is the feeling of marvel that accompanies walking through these cities which are filled with such history. There is such a respect for heritage in these places, which really shows through in the architecture. So many of the buildings which we have been around have been old, historic buildings. But time and time again, we have seen large-scale restoral projects aimed at maintaining history, rather than just paving over it, which amazes me. For while admittedly, buildings in North America are typically much younger than those found in Europe, we tend to take the approach of bulldozing our old, worn-down buildings to make space for newer, "better" buildings. Perhaps it was just the areas we've frequented, but it certainly seems like Europeans truly respect their cities history.

A view of one of the colleges of Oxford.

The other highlight of Oxford, for me, would have to be the tea. Not to say that the specific teas that we had were anything spectacular, just your average run of the mill tea, but rather the whole experience of having an afternoon tea.

I have been an avid tea drinker from a very young age, ask anyone in my family and they will gladly tell you about my slightly ridiculous tea collection. The one thing I've never done and always wanted to do was to have a tea party - an obsession which has only been intensified over the years by period dramas, movies, and books. Something about the simple elegance of a cup of freshly brewed tea and a selection of dainty sandwiches and cakes has always appealed to me (some of life's best pleasures are it's simplest ones) and Oxford certainly did not disappoint. Something seemed so right about having tea and finger sandwiches in the elegant Cotswold Manor and again at the Grande Cafe, it was pretty much exactly as I had always hoped it would be.

A section of the bar area of Cotswold Manor where I had two splendid afternoon teas.

 

I must admit that I left Oxford with thoughts of how splendid it would be to be able to study there and be surrounded and immersed in such an amazing culture.

Thought someone might enjoy this note.

Hendrick at the Lourve

The Hendricksen family at the entrance to the Louvre Museum getting ready for a marathon museum afternoon.

The title is not a typo - I did not miss off the end of our family name, instead I am referring to a painter who prior to this week's visit to the Louvre, I didn't know anything about.  His full name is Hendrick II van Steenwyk, He was born in Antwerp, Belgium, where he spent most of his life, except for a period when he moved to London.  When I looked on the internet for more about this artist I didn't find much until I discovered that his name is spelled both with a "ck" at the end or simply a "k" (the Louvre exhibit used the spelling above).  Here is an article on this artist I found on Wikipedia, and a different article with a little more information.

The reason I am even writing about this artist is because his painting was the one I enjoyed the most in the whole of the Louvre Museum.  Anna was right, the museum was overwhelming after a while, endless paintings, mostly religious, mythological, or portrait in nature.  The Louvre has many little side rooms, and it is a bit like a maze.  I almost by accident walked into one of these little side rooms in this maze and stopped short... here was a painting so unlike most of the other paintings that I was surprised to find it was painting between 1610 and 1620.  The painting is called "Intérieur d'église" which was inspired by the interior of Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Anvers (the Cathedral in Antwerp).

Intérieur d'église by the Belgian artist Hendrick II van Steenwyk

I think why I like this painting so much is because of its realism and its wonderful use of light and shadow.  I enjoy architecture photography, so it should be no surprise that I would enjoy architecture painting.

Les Musées de Paris

The Musée de Louvre

This past week in Paris we have been to two different museums - the Musée de Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay. The Louvre was overwhelmingly large, and I felt at a loss. We decided to see the paintings first, since that’s what I thought I wanted to see the most. However, I found myself getting bored quickly. Since the museum only holds paintings from the 15^th to the early 19^th centuries, many of the pieces focus on either Christian subjects or Greek mythology. Dad loved these paintings and I think he got the most out of seeing them. The one thing I found impressive about these paintings, as repetitious as they were in subject matter, was the amount of skill that the artists had to paint such enormous works of art without any kind of guide.

A statue in the Egyptian exhibit at the Louvre - the Deity Horus



After we had stopped for a short coffee break, we decided to see the Egyptian and Grecian exhibits. I enjoyed these much more. I found the age of the artefacts astonishing especially considering their impeccable condition. I was especially delighted by the Egyptian section. The various remnants of ruins, sphinxes, vases and household items was absolutely fascinating. Another thing that I liked about the museum was seeing the highly decorated and ornamented rooms that were at one time occupied by royalty. However, one thing that I found about the Louvre was that the exhibits were so extensive that I got tired of them after a period of time. We spent the entire afternoon at the Louvre, and I would definitely say that we got our money’s worth.

The inside of the Musée d'Orsay

The other museum we saw was the Musée d’Orsay. This was one of the things that Josh wanted to do while we were in Paris because it came highly recommended by his colleagues. I was unsure of how I would find it. Well, I never should’ve worried because I instantly fell in love with this museum. They are famous for their extensive collection of Impressionist works, which is one of the eras that I find appealing. From Monet and Sisley to Debussy and Ravel, I love this brief era in history.

One of the styles I enjoyed seeing was Pointillism. I would certainly not have the patience to paint all those little dots, especially in some of the large works that we saw. I also loved seeing the Art Nouveau and Art Deco exhibits which included not only paintings, but furniture and décor. Upon wandering through these exhibits, I have decided that I would like to collect items from these two styles and perhaps decorate my future home with them. I think Josh’s colleagues made a very good recommendation, since I enjoyed the Musée d’Orsay much more than the Musé e de Louvre. I only wish that Canada would make the same efforts to encourage the arts as Europe.

A Sabbath in Paris

Since I knew we would be in Paris on Sunday I checked into the worship service schedule at Cathédrale Notre-Dame and found out that they have an International Service every Sunday at 11:30 AM.  We let the kids sleep in as long as possible (to recuperate from the fireworks adventure), then shortly after 11 AM we all headed down to the Metro.  We arrived at Notre Dame and discovered a very long line already formed.  Upon further investigation the long line was to "Visit" Notre Dame, there was another line with no one in it marked "Messe". Well we were there for the service so we went in that door.  The service was already started but an usher showed us where we could enter the worship space, and after a little looking around we found some empty seats off to the left side about half way to the front.  These were not great seats, we couldn't see anything happening at the front (except for the odd glimpse of a priest moving around).

The seats where we sat for the service, the pillars on the right pretty well blocked our view of everything.

The International Service was supposed to be in both French and English, but the only English we heard was a few petitions during the Prayers of Intercession.  For me the most worshipful part of the whole experience was the organ music - after all music is the truly international language.  The bulletin had some parts in English and German, and the explanation about communion in English said communicants should be Christians who believe in the living presence of Christ in the sacrament (whereas the French explanation used the word 'Catholic' in the same spot).  Beth and I decided we were comfortable enough with that explanation, so we went up for Communion (the kids however did not feel that would be okay for them... perhaps all those years receiving a blessing only at the Saint Francis School Masses).

All throughout the service the "visitors" to the cathedral walked around the periphery of the worship space, looking, taking pictures and whispering to each other (there were large electronic signs that displayed the request to be silent in many different languages).  Still this struck us as an unusual way to have a worship service - and we wondered if the priests who serve there ever got used to that.  Ironically we ourselves then walked around the periphery of the worship space before leaving the cathedral (I thought that we had time before the next worship service began, but there was little time between the services).  My favorite thing in Notre Dame is the stained glass, and how the architecture and windows draw the eyes up to the heavens.

The vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows of Notre Dame.

After we left the cathedral we looked for a crepe stand that Beth and I found when we were here three years ago.  Indeed it was still there, and so we all enjoyed some crêpes (either with lemon and sugar, or Nutella - which is a big thing over here).  We were just beginning to walk around the area when a sudden downpour struck, fortunately a souvenir shop was right there so we avoided getting wet.  It was a short shower, and afterwards we could see the real purpose of the gargoyles - they are rain spouts directing water away from the building.  I took a few pictures to illustrate this and to me it almost looks like the gargoyle is salivating.  A little creepy, and not the image of happy friendly gargoyles from Disney's version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  I've determined to read Victor Hugo's novel soon, I don't think I ever have (just watched movie versions).

Is this gargoyle salivating as it spies some victim down below?

After a little more wandering on Île de la Cité we returned to the Metro station and made our way back to the apartment.  we stopped in at a local grocery store and bought some baguettes, meat and cheese - this became our supper.  The rest of the day was a day of rest.  People napped, relaxed, read, did crosswords - we all needed a down day.  So that was our Sunday in Paris, a sabbath break in our European adventure.

Fireworks and Frustrations

Yesterday (Saturday) was Bastille Day (in France it is formally called La Fête Nationale - The National Celebration;  it commemorates the storming of the Bastille the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison which is seen as a symbol of the beginning of the modern nation).  So much like July 1st in Canada or July 4th in the U.S.A there are festivities all day concluding with a fireworks display.  The fireworks display in Paris takes place by the Eiffel Tower and they have a reputation of being spectacular.  So we decided to take them in, even though we knew there would be a big crowd doing the same.

It began well enough, on the Metro ride to the spot our apartment host recommended a couple of buskers stepped on with saxophone, trumpet and portable sound system and proceeded to play some standards (pretty well actually) handing around a McDonalds drink cup for change between the songs.  When we got to the recommended stop we simply followed the crowds.  We began to suspect we were in for quite the experience when we saw all the ambulances and police vehicles parked in the area.  We arrived at one spot that seemed to have a good view of Eiffel Tower but no one was sticking around - a young woman in some kind of uniform asked if we needed help and when I asked if this was a good spot to watch the fireworks she said "Non, non!" and then directed us to go in the direction of the crowd to a bridge, then cross the river and head to the Eiffel Tower.  So off we headed, following the crowd.

We hadn't eaten since a sandwich in Calais so we were on the lookout for a street vendor.  Finally we found one, selling fries and what he called kabob meat in a bun.  It turned out to be very good (perhaps partly because we were hungry).  A little further we turned the corner to head to the bridge and suddenly there were lots of people and lots of street vendors (including guys selling bottles of wine and champagne!)  Part way across the bridge we decided that we shouldn't go any further, we had a decent view of the tower and lots of people were gathering on the bridge.  Now we simply waited for the fireworks to begin.  Some people couldn't wait and firecrackers and other noise makers would periodically be set off (sometimes quite loud and startling). Groups of drunk men would begin singing at the tops of their lungs, and teenagers coming at the last minute would push their way into some good spots (sometimes blocking the view of families with small children who had been waiting in that spot for over a hour).  It was quite the wild atmosphere.

We had a spot right by an overflowing garbage can, which ironically made it a good spot, since no one could move into that space and block the site lines at the last minute.  Joshua, with his height advantage wasn't a concern, but Anna might have missed out.  The sky grew darker and the crowd grew restless, little children asked their parents over and over "When is it going to start?"  The advertised start time was 10:45 PM, but the show didn't get going until almost 11:00.  When the lights on the Eiffel Tower went off we knew the time had come.

For 40 to 45 minutes the skies about the River Seine were filled with a variety of fireworks, and periodically the Eiffel Tower would sparkle throughout the show.  There was music playing but we only heard bits of it where we were standing.  Some of the fireworks were unusual such as the ones that exploded into heart shapes, or the ones that simple hovered in the same spot until they burned out.  So many fireworks were set off that the air was filled with smoke, a constant haze hung over the river.  And they kept going, one set would finish and we would think "Are they over now?" only to have a new set of fireworks burst into the sky a few moments later.  It truly was a spectacular sight.

I took advantage of my new digital camera to shoot a lot of images - some were straightforward pictures of the fireworks, and some were experiments where I zoomed or rotated the camera as the shutter was open.  My biggest challenge was to get a unobstructed view as people kept holding their cell phone cameras up in the air to take pictures!  (I tried to be sensitive to the people behind me and kept my camera at head level).  I've included in this post a couple of the pictures that I took last night, I'm happy with the results.

An experimental fireworks shot created by zooming the lens while the shutter was open.

Now to the frustrations - actually the frustrations began earlier with the behaviour of people in the crowd (either pushing their way, or setting off loud and frightening fire-crackers), and the delayed start of the show - but those were not really that bad, and could almost be expected and predicted.  It's what happened next that became the ultimate frustration.

After the fireworks were over we decided that we would wait 10 or 15 minutes for the crowd to disperse somewhat, then we would walk back to the metro station we first arrived at.  Walking back through the crowd with police and ambulance sirens blaring every few minutes was a bit straining on the nerves, but eventually we got back to the Metro station only to discover it was locked and a huge crowd waiting for it to open.  We waited for a while until the crowd began to disperse - when I checked I found out that this particular Metro station was not going to open again that night.  Nowhere did we see any signs or hear any news of this prior to the fireworks, and I don't think it was because such notice was given in French - there were many Parisians also surprised by this turn of events.  We were told by a member of the Metro security that the station near the bridge we viewed the fireworks from was available... so we headed back the way we came.  At this point it is close to 1:00 AM and we are feeling very tired and perhaps a little apprehensive.  When we arrive at the Metro station we were told was open, we found that same scene, the gates locked and Metro security telling us it wouldn't open - sending us on to a different one.

So now what to do?  We decide to start walking in the direction of our Paris apartment, hoping to find a Metro station along the way that was open.  It took two more stations before we found one that was actually open (by this time it was 1:45 AM)  A little checking on Google maps and it looks like we walked for over 5 kilometers looking for an open Metro station.  That was quite frustrating and a little frightening (as we encountered many groups of drunk revelers who might not have been very patient with the language barrier should they decide to interact with us).

The family standing at the spot we watched the fireworks from.  Note the smiles on everyone's face, we hadn't discovered the frustration of the closed metro stations yet.

Well I'm writing this post, so you will realize that we did make it back to the apartment safe, though weary.  We can now say we joined over a million people to watch the famous July 14th fireworks in Paris, and we can also say "Don't need to do that again!"  Hopefully that will be the end to any major frustrations in the City of Lights.

The Problem with (a lack of) French

So we manage to get to Dover last night, then onto the ferry across to Calais this morning.  In Calais we locate the right train and eventually our reserved seats then this high speed train gets us to Paris in 90 minutes.  So far so good, but then the lack of fluency in French begins to take its toll.  We were supposed to phone the people who own the apartment we will be staying in once we arrived in Paris - the only problem was we couldn't figure out how to use the pay phone!  There we were, standing by this pay phone in the middle of the busy Paris train station trying everything we could think of to get the phone to work, this went on for over 20 minutes.  Finally I suggested try putting a 0 in front of the number we were given (based on something I recalled from making a call in Oxford)... that did the trick.  Beth started talking to the woman but within 2 minutes was cut off!  We hadn't put in enough money - unlike the payphones of Canada you do not have unlimited time on local calls here.  We tried calling back, but got a busy signal.  Arrgh!  Finally Beth gets reconnected and is able to make plans to meet the woman who is supposed to show us the apartment.  From what Beth could tell it sounded like we were supposed to call this woman when we reached the right Metro station (the Metro is Paris' subway system).

Thankfully our time on the London Tube prepared us for managing the Paris Metro and we did get to the appropriate station without too much trouble.  We got to street level and walk out into beautiful sunshine (where were you sun, the whole time we were in England?).  The only pay phone we could locate doesn't take coins, so Beth suggests we just get ourselves to the apartment and take it from there.  We had a map and without too much trouble we get to the apartment - alas, there is a gate to get into the building, one that requires a code - thus we can't get in to meet the woman.  Now what to do?

After some scratching of our heads Beth and Joshua decide to go off in search of a payphone.  If we could have spoken French decently I might have asked someone walking by with a mobile phone if we could borrow it for a few moments.  With our lack of French skills I'm sure it would have come across as a scam of some kind to steal their phone.  After a half hour a black woman comes up to the three of us standing in front of the apartment and says "Your wife phoned - I was waiting at the Metro for you" (except in broken English.)  I'm trying to explain that my wife went off to phone when I see Beth and Joshua in the distance returning.  It turns out that Beth found that one can use a credit card in the non-coin pay phones.

So finally we get into our Paris home for the week.  We climb three flights of a narrow curving staircase and hufffing and puffing we get into the apartment.  One quick look and it is apparent that the place we had in London was exceptional.  This place will certainly be useable but we are already discovering some bizarre quirks like the window that looks from the bathroom into the kitchen.  Well enough of this tale of woe - we are here, the location is great (walking distance to Notre Dame), and we can relax after a day of travel and lugging luggage.  Beth is doing a few loads of laundry now and we are gearing up to go to the see the massive fireworks for Bastille Day at the Eiffel Tower later this evening.

As a side note - I did not write as much as I wanted last week because between the conference and sightseeing I had little time or energy left... but I hope to do some further reflection on the past week in the coming days, and somebody simply needs to recount our experience at Cinnamon Island last night.