10 31 and onwards

I am currently sitting in the lounge at Singapore.  On Thusday I pottered around where I was staying. 

Friday was All Saints day, La Toussaint here and a public holiday. Apparently quite a few people make it a long weekend, lots of the others go to church to give thanks for dead family members. I had planned an outing based on things from my Secret Paris book  and Ian, the Australian I met several days before, came too. We were in the 14th arrondissment.  First we went to a building which had a facade made using sgraffiti , a technique for buildings,  pottery etc : paint in 1 colour,  paint another layer in a different  colour, the  scratch a pattern in the top later so some of  the bottom layer can be seen.  Interesting. Then we went looking for some hanging gardens. This took a little while. I had not read the instructions carefully enough.  We were in the right place but were looking up for gardens above us hanging down, but they were named hanging because the gardens we were in  were suspended over the railway line below us. But we did find some interesting  meteorology measuring equipment.

Next was a church Saint  notre dame de Travail ( work in english) .It was very plain and with exposed metal beams and uprights.  It was built in a working class area and tried to create an environment the locals would be comfortable in. . We arrived as one service was finishing and left just as the next one was starting. I really must sort some photos out soon. I have never seen anything like it.

We went searching for a menhir ( bronze age standing stone) that was supposed to be in a particular park, but we couldnot find it. That was the only fail for the morning , so not too bad.

We went along a pretty, small cobble- stoned street near the park Montsouris that just had small 2 storey houses, all attached to each, but all pretty, well cared for and different from their neighbours. Then we wandered around in the park and saw a black swan that could have been the 1  Ian had seen on a previous trip.  A very pleasant day that included morning coffee and lunch.

Saturday I went for a walk and a sit in the Luxembourg gardens, had a nice lunch and sorted myself out to go to the airport.  The first uber could not get to me. About 50 m away from my apartment was a 5 road intersection and apparently 1 of them  was blocked, creating chaos. I could see him going all around me in the uber app. Eventually he rang me and asked me to cancel. Another guy also had difficulty. He talked to me to ask if I was in a hurry. No I wasn't.  So he eventually got to me. Turned out he lives near the airport and it was going to be his last job.

I am now in  a Melbourne airport lounge.

10 29 tuesday and 10 30 wednesday

Tuesday was a very quiet day. I pottered.

Today was different.

I had plotted on  my map 6 things of interest. I set off 9.30ish and walked to the furthest away by a slightly circuitous route ( 5km rather then 4).  This was a monument but blocked off. All the green area in front of the eiffel tower, where there must have been all sorts of Olympic things , was blocked off.  There are doing regeneration stuff. Next was morning noisette  and croisant, but i wanted a pain au chocolate,I have got used to one of those for moring tea and they had run out. I did get the last croissant though.

Next thing on the list was a statue of something which said it should be visible through a fence, but that was blocked off too. Then a pagoda - yep, it was all covered up with construction stuff everywhere. The fourth thing, a small park dedicated to some resistance fighters,  was there, but I had been there before. It was on one of the days that i forgot to record on the map where I went. The fifth thing, a statue of a man and a horse combined,,i had seen before too. But it was still an interesting day.  There are lots of family groups around, school holidays. Ar some point i had a very nice cabbage thing with chicken stuffing and lots of veggies, which i have not been getting enough of.

10 27 Sunday and 10 28 Monday

On Sunday I pottered most of the morning. I sat and read my book at early morning coffee and croissant, mid morning coffee and something and lunch.

In the afternoon I walked to St Germain des Pres, 1 of the 2 colourful churches that i like and listened to 3 /4   of an organ and soprano recital. I am not aware of every listening to the combination of organ and voice, but I thought it was odd. I am sure both musicians were very good, but I would have preferred just the organ. I left early because i realised I had forgotten to factor in the time for a coffee stop ( or more importantly the loo stop that a coffee provides) in the time it would take me to get to the next church. 

So then I walked in the direction of the church with 2 congregations, StvEugene and st Cecile,  the modern and the latin speaking congregation ( not sure which is which). This was 5.15 ish. The main streets were full of people but the in-between streets were very empty, quiet and dark, so i decided I would definitely get a bus home. I luckily found a place for a coffee , - have I said here that i have discovered noisettes? A short black with milk, more milk than a machiato in Australia. The milk often comes in a little jug. I have never had one that needed sugar because it was too bitter.

The pewsheet said there was a vespers service  at 5.45 on Sundays in the gregorian tradition with organ. When the service started, 12 robed men processed in ( maybe 4 were choristers (extra chanters not singers)) the rest clergy. Therr were about 25 in the congregation. The whole service was on  a printed booklet I was given, but it certainly did not start at the beginning of the booklet, so i had no idea. It was chanting in Larin , the music was in the booklet, but old style with only 4 lines and funny markings, The organ fitted in  with lots of bits in between and the chanting would start on the note the organ finished on. Sometimes just 1 of the clergy, sometimes all of them. Maybe this is a fairly standard RC service, I have no idea.  I was unimpressed with how often the people in the congregation were expected to get up, wait a bit while something short  was said, then sit down again. Only about half the 25 were older than me. Quite a few people in 30s and 40s. Maybe they teach Latin in schools.

I left after about half an hour.  I knew I had a few dark  empty streets before the bus stop. So just outside the church I was looking at the map on my phone making sure I set off in the right direction. There was a man on the other side of the road who saw me and said in English Are you as lost as I am?  I said i'm not lost, I know where I am going. I was a bit undecided about him and what to do. . Anyway, i helped him and realised he was going in the same direction as me so we walked together , chattering away. He was Sean from Ireland. We stood on a corner for quite a while talking till I said I better go. I was annoyed at having to wait 20 minutes for a bus tho. He told me he was a journalist and  author and one of the books he has written ( I looked him up afterwards) looked interesting.

In Paris there is an old no longer used elevated freight railway line that has been converted to a long thin  park. It is quite pleasant. You walk along looking at the upper stories of buildings and are closer to the often very interesting roof lines. There are occassionally chairs, ponds, lots of trees and flowers.  I had walked about a kilometre of the 4 1/2 km  and was watching the guy in front of me walking at much the same pace as I was. He had a jacket with a logo on the back of the neck that i thought was either Kathmandu or Mountain design. Suddenly a bird appeared and   he turned around  and said ' there's a sparrow, there are hardly any sparrows in Sydney left. '. He stopped and realised he didn't  know who I was at all.. I replied ' I wouldn't  know, I live in Canberra' . So he  was Ian from Sydney. We chatted for a bit and then walked on together to the end , stopping to take photos. It is about his 6th trip to Paris. He comes for about 2 months a year, usually with his wife. She frequents the wool shop i went to twice. We got to the end and I told him of the church I was going to visit that was about a km  in the direction he would have been walking  , so we kept chatting as we walked.

The church, Eglise saint esprit was very impressive. It was built in the the 1930's in a poor area of Paris. The nave is square with a huge dome on top. It was inspired by the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Inside it is covered with Byzantine style frescoes , but quite plain but lovely marble bits , like the altar rail.  ian was pleased that i had taken him there . He had never been or heard of the church. But my secret Paris book knew of it. We had lunch together and then I came back here. 

 .

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10 26 Saturday

Today was a good day, despite only crossing 1 thing off my list.  I set off to go to a coffee shop / bookshop/ odd bits and pieces place in Belleville, a bit less desirable area than I am currently  in. There are lots of different ethnic groups, some run down bits and some bits that are getting new life . It is close to where I stayed last year for a week.

I planned on getting the bus there , but yesterday afternoon had difficulty with google maps and my brain. Long story but the result was that it only took me 40 minutes to get there when I thought it was going to take 55 minutes, so I had plenty of time to wander round this particula part of Bellevile. I found where I was going, it wasn't open when it said it would be, I  wandered some more and found several of the new breed of pastry/ bread / coffee shops with a few table and chairs  ( these shops are nearly always painted white walls the light timber furniture.) ( and the few that I have asked donot have loos) But I did find  a modernised corner bistro and had a decent coffee and piece of cake. The shop I was going to go to was open when I went past. But I am not making another trip.

Then I just wandered back towards the wool shop, 11km .  There was definitely a slower, weekend , pace, not the bustle of weekdays. When I was almost at the wool shop I started to look for a lunch spot which I found. I had a whole fish. Normally I never choose this, but I fancied a glass of wine so thought I could take my time over the fish. I was sitting inside but had a good view of the passing parade. Then , to flaunt all my rules at once, I had a desert and then a coffee. ( i only occassionally have a desert and only occasionally wine and certainly never both at the same meal)  I think i was there for almost 2 hours, but the staff didnot mind.  Then I went to the wool shop, then I sat in the nearby huge church ST eustache for a bit.  I started walking back here by crossing the seine on 1 of the foot bridges and stopped to listen to 1 of the bands that play on the foot bridges on the weekend. I started to move off, thought what's the rush and stayed for ages. 8 piece brass mainly - 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1 Sousaphone, 1 drums, 1 sax. They were clowns too. In one  oft played theme song to a war movie that I recognised but cannot name, 2 of the trumpet players  were walking around  as if creeping through the bush holding their trumpet as a rifle. 

A bit further on  I was a bit annoyed, I wanted to walk up a street that I had not been along before but there was a protest of some group, most of them older folk, but there was still several police vehicles,  quite a few police. This group got to the street before me and they were going fairly slowly., taking up the whole width of the street. Some disgruntled car drivers.   So there was a group of people who were walking very slowly  behind the police, me included, all chatting in a variety of languages . But after a while I got past the protesters by walking 3 sides of a rectangle.   I left home at 8.50 and got back at 4.45. A longish day for me, but tonight France goes off daylight saving and I get an extra hour in bed.  

10 25 Friday ( and Thursday)

On Thursday i did very little other than experiment with butterflies and sit in 3 separate bar / cafes for early breakfast, morning tea and late lunch and plan today's outing.

Today I walked over to the other side of the river again to go to the Jaquemart Andre museum.  This apparently is a very fancy house with a very rich couples art collection.

I didnot have a ticket and, according to the sign on the queue, it would take me 30 minutes to an hour to get in. I didnot fancy waiting so went to the next place on the route,,the Parc Monceau. It was quite nice wandering around.

Next on my route was the Alexander Nevsky cathedral , a russian orthodox church. I found out about this in the Secret Paris book i have, nowhere else have i seen it mentioned. It was consecrated in 1861. ( as an aside i remember that john and i in 1976 stayed in a hotel on Nevsky prospect ( street) in St Petersboug ( except it was Leningrad then) it was then the main street of the central city area) Alexander Nevsky was a great leader , wise ruler, successful military commander and devout Christian, so the book says. Apparently  it is the archdiocesan seat of the Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe..  in  2019 i went to another russian orthodox church , next to the seine, much newer. It was supposed to be important too. Maybe there are different flavours of russian orthodoxy.  Todays one was circular, lots of domes and taller than it was round. Inside was quite dark with paintings of people and saints all over most of the walls. There were a few chairs and there were a few other people just sitting , so I did too. It was about very peaceful.

My route took me past the arc de triumph.  There were lots of tour groups , tourists, hawkers, a largish group protesting about something, etc etc ( including pickpockets i assume) . I quickly walked close enough to get a sort of photo then hurried away. There were 2 buildings on my list , I with  facade made entirely of pottery, the other  very attractive art nuveau building. I try to eat at small cafes but I had been looking for a while. They usually tend to be in back streets, not the main roads where the big bistros are. Today I went to a nice looking big bistro . Apart from 2 japanese girls, i was the only non French speaker. The schools are on holidays and there are lots of kids around. I caught a bus back to my apartment,  the first time this trip, that i have used public transport. 

10 23 wednesday

This morning I walked to the Picasso Gallery. On the first of 4 levels there was an exhibition of Jackson Pollock's early work and the similarities with his work and Picasso s early work. The rest of the Gallery was picasso's work arranged roughly in chronological order and relating to world events of the time. I enjoyed it. 

Then I went to a garden that was attached , through a deliberately not very well signposted, passage to the place des Vosges. It was very tranquil with 3 interesting statues in the middle. However sitting on a stone bench, the only available type of seating, soon gets to be quite uncomfortable.

I wandered on past various places  i saw  when i was staying in the area in 2019 till I got to my destination, a wool shop. I glanced in and quickly realised that i  needed lunch before tackling it. It was immense with lots of staff, people looking and people in 3 queues at different desks. I was there for a little bit of a few different yarns for my butterfly project for Wendy's new stole. In one part of the shop there were many shelves stacked full of large cones of different colours and thicknesses of yarn ( 1 cone per each colour and thickness) It was sold by weight. You took what you wanted to 1 queue and the lady would weigh out as much as you wanted and the machine wound off your yarn into a ball. But I wasnot prepared to say what I wanted till I knew what it would cost. I was sent to a different queue, but then I was told I was in the wrong queue, etc, etc, my ignorance about how the very peculiar system worked . But people in queues in wool shops are usually quite chatty and interesting to talk to. Despite the time taken I was pleased with the outcome and will go back next week. They also sold a bit of material but heaps and heaps of buttons and bits and pieces to sew onto things. No  threads

That was enough for the day.

10 21

Today was full of odd bits and pieces.

I walked over the Seine ( as brown and unpleasant looking as the other day) to  the northern part of the 9th arrondissment and saw a fire station which is noted for the grape vines that they have cultivated over the years growing all over the fence between the trucks and building s and the street.  According to my book they harvest over 150 kg of grapes.

The next stop was the Musee  Gustave Moreau. He was an artist born in 1826.  The gallery was his house. In some rooms there were just paintings ( his and others) squashed into every available space which I found quite off-putting. Some rooms  ( all quite small)  like dining room and bedroom had fewer paintings , then on 2 upper floors there were more of his huge paintings, but again all packed in. They were mostly dark colours or naked ish  women or tormented men or angry weather or some combination of the above. Mainly biblical or mythological. There was one that was a bit different and it or the style were vaguely familiar. Turned out it was a copy of a Canaletto,  a Venetian painter whose light airy paintings i quite like. Apparent copying someone else's work is OK. Then I found one of his that was light, but apparently wasn't finished. But it had the lady and 2 unicorns from the tapestry. 

Nearby was a square with an interesting statue. Apparently there used to be a Paris Carnival which stopped in the 1950s. The sculptor is know for his witty illustrations and caricatures of everyday life. So this fountain has a thief, a courtesan, a harlequin and a debardeuse  - a pants wearing woman. In the 19th century it was illegal for a woman to wear pants unless she had a permit from the police, a letter from her doctor to saynshe had to wear pants (???) or was in costume for the carnival. The law was not overturned officially until 2013.

Then I saw a wall with a lovely art nuveau stained glass pattern.  Then i had lunch which took a while because , just as I was finishing , a local came in and sat near me. She loudly asked the waiter  ( not rudely, he was just a bit away from her)  for a glass of white wine but cheaper than the previous days. I sort of snickered and she spoke to me. We established that her English was better than my French but I still tried. Except she noticed that i had accidentally used a few italian words which she knew. Fairly on, I got the usual question in French, Are you English. my response is always in French,  I speak english but i am not from england i am from Australia,  which every french person i have met on the streets  seems pleased about.  We talked for quite a while . 

Next stop was the Eglise of st eugene and st cecile.  This church is lovely and colourful inside. The columns are colourful  and there is lots of stained glass. There were only a few other people there. It was lovely just to sit quietly in. The other thing that is intersting about this church is that after vatican 2, in the mid 1960s , half the congregation said they wanted to stay with the old ways - priest with his back to the people  speaking in latin. So for ages they had 2 congregations and 2 priests, but now i think they only have 1 priest but they still have services in latin as well as english.

Next stop was a coffee and cake. There are coffee shops often called ' coffee shop ' springing up all over Paris . From my sample of about 5 , the coffee is not always great. The coffee from a bar  is probably better  than I remember from 2019. Todays was good.

My next job tonight is to plan tomorrow. I might include a bus ride. I waked over 18km today.

10 20 Sunday

This morning was an early start for a Sunday. early coffee and croissant at the bakery, only place open. Church at the big place near me Saint Sulpice. They advertised a Georgian choir.  Maybe I read it as Gregorian. Anyway it was recorded music and some  sopranos. Lots of standing. I left before the sermon and found a place to sit for a bit until it was time to go to the puppet theatre. This small theatre in the Luxemburg gardens has been going for years. The show i saw was a version of Prince Charming. I had read the story, but I still could not make out what was going on. Their French was too fast for me.All the kids there really seemed to enjoy it.

I spent some time pottering then went for a walk, late afternoon, shops all open, people everywhere . I stopped for a glass of wine. I rarely drink more than a few mouthfuls  of wine at a time  (usually from Noels glass when he is having some wine) so realised pretty quickly i had to get some food , which i i did.

10 19 Saturday

An easy day.

I pottered in the morning, it was drizzling, I went for my morning tea to a bistro place and sat in a corner having my noisette and pain au chocolate reading my book about the left bank thinkers and writers. I am up to the late 1940s. It turned from a drizzle to a downpour , noone was coming in so I continued to sit in my corner for another hour or so, then went to a nearby church Notre Dame Des Champs  I wandered around a bit, but i came in at the end of a funeral and half the church ( the interesting bit) had been partitioned off formrepair works. I wasn't in the mood.

I had been recommended a cafe a km or so away  ( back to drizzle) so I went there . It was delicious food. Total of 18 people could be seated (sqashy) but because there was me only at a table for 2 while i was there,  there was only17 diners, but they had a quick turnover so lots of sittings. 2 ladies, 1 cook and 1 waiter.  2 choices first course, 2 choices main course, and anything from the cabinet of cakes and things for desert.

Then back here, more rain.. 

10 18 Friday, a good day

This morning after my normal,coffee and croissant I talked to Noel, as normal and then ,unusually, my sister, which was good. I left here with no special plan other than check out notre dame and meet my canberra friend for lunch. I wandered down backstreets toward  the seine. It was time for morning tea so I went into the first bar, hoping it was a small neighbourhood one. No,big fancy one. The barman directed me  to a stool at the end of the bar. The bar was in the middle of a biggish room and he faced outward toward the street. I reckon I was in the best seat of the house. I could see exactly what he was doing, all the front inside , all the outside and the bar, and some of the back part. There were about 10 tables inside in the front and over 20 outside. No idea about the back. He was taking orders from 2 waiters, looking after the 5 people at the bar, and making coffees for all the regulars who came in, often with just a greeting but no words about what coffee, so he must have known their regular orders. He had a big mirror above his machine, so sometimes he would make a coffee for a regular coming in and it would be on the bar waiting for the regular.  Once he had 6 orders all at once while he was making several others. He held it all in his head, though sometimes repeating the orders under his breath. Very impressive. So I sat for quite a while just watching.

Next stop was Notre Dame. The crowds loitering around looking were quieter than normal.  There were several cranes working when I was there. There are hoardings up at ground level with a display of big black and white photos . I went closer to look and by change it was a photo of a group of 24  foresters,,some with tree saws. About the only thing I have read in detail about the restoration was about the lengths that they went to to find the exact same fairly rare timber for some of the beams as had been used previously. 

I went on my way to the Cafe I was meeting Jan at. I passed a small church, wedged in between buildings so all you see is one end. I took a photo and thought there was something different about the decoration above the door. From a distance it looked like stained glass , but it was a mosaic. It was a Romanian Orthodox Church. So I read some of the bits of information on the door ( not the one in Romanian) . It won some award for the restoration work of several years ago.

I was still a bit early so I stopped again at a tiny park around a statue  of a man named Ronsard and sat down and read about him , a 16th century  poet. Maybe it will come up in a trivia quiz and maybe I might remember him.

I chatted to Jan for a long time. Then we went our separate ways. I walked to and then along a shopping and food street that is well known in the area, stopping for a chai latte and biscuit and then in the direction of my apartment.  I heard someone calling out what sounded like sue, but Sue is not a  French name. The second time I heard it I turned around it was Jan. Fancy that.

I even remembered to  buy some camomile tea on the way home. I have forgotten for the last 2 days.  I normally take my shoes off as soon as I get in the door. Not today, I remembered i had to take the rubbish out first, again something I had forgotten for several days.

10/17 Wed

Wednesday :

Start walk to Jardin des plantes but get as far as Judy ( gf cafe, part of a chain,  always busy)

flat white and carrot cake good. Discovered they and other cafes in october pick a product and give a euro to Octobre Rose ( pink october) to raise funds for breast cancer .  Discovered my phone missing so return to apartment. Walk to a building that was part of the last remaining horse trading place in Paris, still with writing on the wall. Walk to gate of jardine Des Plantes. Look for statue of a lion eating a man's foot, but not found, maybe wrong gate.

Wander around. Find the merry-go-round of endangered animals. Take lots of photos. Set up in 1992 in the style of the 1930's  specifically for the location ( lots of natural history type museums around) of animals extinct or about to be. According to a sign on the wall there is one or more  of  : dodo from mauritius,  sivatherium ( an elk like precursor of a giraffe) , triceratops, aepyornis from madagascar  ( a huge emu like bird) , thylacine from tasmania in Australia,   glyptodon from South America ( like a giant tortoise) , a horned tortoise,  a panda,, a lion of Atlas ( also called a barbary lion,)  an African elephant and a mountain gorilla. See photos later. Maybe.

I didnot pay to go into the live animal zoo, but still saw 1 of the 2 red pandas . I discovered my phone was down to 10%  No more photos.  The night before I had charged my backup battery, but forgotten to return it to my bag! 

Tired. Do nothing much tomorrow.

Thursday 

Walked to a street noted for its street food, atmosphere , small shops.etc the other side of the Montparnasse cemetery from me.  Discovered that most of the shops donot open till later than 9.30 (its obvious if i had thought) Bought a thing called a merveilleux , a mound of the inside of a fluffy meringue . This one was pink for pink october. 

Came back to apartment. Raining so stayed in. I was going to anyway. I am tired.

10 16 Tues

This morning I walked to the Musee Rodin. I was amazed at how many sculptures he made. I do  not fancy the limbless or headless ones.  The  faces on some of them were very expressive. I pottered around the very pleasant garden looking at the outside statues. The coffee and Madeleine for morning tea were good.

I sat in a near by very pleasant that has just opened after being renovated and did a crossword.

On the way back I made the mistake of sticking my head into a cafe, thought it was too crowded but was seen by the proprietor who ushered me in. There were 3 tables, close together, for 4 downstairs and a few up I think and 2 table of 6 outside. I was seated at a table for 4 where there were 2 guys already. I pulled out my book straight away. There was a choice of 3 entrees and 4 mains. I had a sort of veal stew and rice . Very nice, very quick and very cheap. I got there at  about 12, by the time I left 12.30 ish there was a queue of about 15. 

My plan was to sort some photos out this afternoon,,but I got sidetracked a bit and then went to a bistro about 300m from here, not 1 of the 3 that are more like 50m from me. It advertised non alcoholic cocktails. So I sat for a while watching the world go past, but from inside.  There are far more smokers in places here than in Australia and smokers are allowed in the rows of chairs just outside bistros. 

10 15 Monday

I set off this morning to start my day at the statue of the 4 females holding up the world. It is entitled fontaine des Quatre Parties du Monde, translated as fountain of the 3 corners of the world. I am still no wiser as to why 4 females, tho have lots of suggestions. Then on to the few things I missed around about there yesterday. I saw a building with the head of elephants about all its doors, a beautiful front door  , all tiled middle eastern Arabic. ( photo coming maybe, whenever..) and a garden inside a building but i could not go in. As as aside, all the schools and unis seem to have a doorman. Kids have to show passes to get in. The doorman to the Sorbonne, which I passed latter in the morning , had a fancy green uniform with matching hat. 

By that stage it was time for morning coffee and a plan for the next bit. I went to a church near the pantheon but it  was closed till 2.30. Nevermind, I went to look for a statue of montaigne, which i found. Another aside, the 5th arrondissment,  where I spent most of today is hilly, but, annoying, my route didnot alextake account f that and I went up and down a few more times than I wanted. Montaigne's foot is shiny, apperarently  students get good luck if they touch his foot before an exam. Well, I touched his foot and hoped it would reset whatever part of my brain still has trouble remembering eg. Take the 2nd left, then the 3rd right. 

Next was a sundial made by Dali. This is a portrait of him on a wall with sundial bits. It is not functional. His head is in a cockle shell shape,  with reference to St Jacques, of the camino to santiago fame, who is said to have started from here, or maybe just passed through.

All this wandering takes time because there are many occasions when I stop and look in shop windows or, as today, go and talk . I stopped and looked in the window of a carpenter, more a craftsman, with inteesting things  which I did not immediately recognise.  There was writing about Venetian gondolas on the window and the word forcole, which translates as rowlock. they were beautifully crafted in a variety of different wood with varying positions to put the oar depending on what you are doing in the gondola.  He saw me staring in and came out and spoke to me . We communicated quite well in a mixture of languages. I told him of my father designing and building boats, my sailing in boats, my children rowing ( he also makes specialist oars) . He gets most of his wood from Montenegro. He was near another church with an interesting building next to it with a very odd roofline which is thought to be an old  charnel house - a place they put dead people who are waiting to be buried. Right next to the church? In summer.?

I had  a galette for lunch , a real one made with buckwheat which is good. While I was there I read about the church that opened at 2.30 and realised I had seen it before in 2019. It has an amazing beautifully carved intricate rood screen. But the book that i was getting the info from today called it a Jube. I didnot put 2 and 2 together till I read about it again. Doesn't matter, it was still worh looking at. The church  also has a big connection with St Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris.

Then i walked back through the luxemburg gardens, more statues.

10 13 Sunday

This morning after my usual coffee and croissant I went for a walk to a park, a long thin extension of the Luxembourg gardens where one of my books said there some interesting things . There is a big statue at the beginning of the park, furthest away from the luxembutg gardens which has some horses around the bottom of the statue and then above the horses 4 figures, which look to me very like females, holding up the  world. Odd. I forgot about the things I was on the lookout for because there was a series of statues. In the next one there was a male and a woman, the woman definitely dominant, the next he was  being a bit pushy but she was resisting, then in the next 2 statues the 2 people were about equal.

That filled in the morning . I had arranged to go to a near restaurant  for lunch on the recommendation of the owners of this apartment. The waiter was great, always talked to me slowly in French, sometimes explaining , but always in french. He usually understood my responses and remembered. Towards the end of the main course I asked if t was polite or rude to use the remaining bit of bread to mop my plate with. Polite he said, maybe not if you are dining with the president. Later when he cleared my plate ( and he was very busy) said' the chef will be very pleased .

Later in the afternoon I went to an organ recital in the big church, Saint Sulpice , I have been to before. I spent quite a while looking on line for a programme, with no luck. Pity, I would have liked to know what I was listening to, I know very little about organ music. There were none available at the church.

10 11 and 12 rest of friday and sat

One odd but very sensible thing I saw yesterday while having lunch sitting inside ( for warmth) near a window ( for excellent view) was the traffic on the corner that the bistro was on. 5 roads coming to a point, traffic clogged, tooting and honking, 2 police cars trying to get through, sirens blaring, along come a line of 6 police people on rollerblades, expertly weaving through the traffic. I bet they beat the cars to where they were going.

The Musee of Arts and Metiers  was like nothing i have ever seen. It is described as a museum of innovation and invention. There was an obvious way to view the exhibits. 6 sections.  First scientific instruments to measure things, then different materials ( wool, paper, material, spinning, iron, etc), then energy ( steam, hydro, electricity, splitting atoms), then communication ( newsprint, radio...) then construction, then transport. There was hardly anyone else there. All sorts of interesting things.

Despite walking a long day,,it was still very enjoyable.

Today has been  much quieter. This morning ,  when I went into the bistro where I have been having my morning coffee and croissant, he just said "bonjour madame,, la meme?"  ( sorry, no accents )

I am quite near the Luxemburg Gardens,  started being built in1612, now owned by the Senate. Covers 23 hectares. lawns, flower beds, ponds with model sail boats ( not nearly as good as the boats on a pond in Central park NYC. Their boats you could control the rudder and the boom and kids and adults ( of all ages, as old as me, I know) were having turns.  The boats in the gardens here have a fixed main and jib and kids get a stick to push the boats off the side of the pond. Absolutely no skill involved, but they still were having a lot of fun) , tennis courts, petanque, kids play areas, kiosk selling   little things. I tried a cannele.  A small darkish brown round thing, but they come in all sizes with a peculiar texture. I have to try another one for a proper description.! Nice.  BAck to the point. I have decided that I will take a photo of all the many statues in the park. I started today. There are lots. This will be a project. One that does not require any French speaking, except to order another cannele maybe. When i think back to previous holidays,,  2019 I took a photo of all the 33 bridges across the seine within the periferie, in 2013 i took a photo of all the 42 bridges in central Park. But then i had a printed map. Now, the map I want is available on the internet or downloadable but i want a hard copy. 

I sat in the garden eating my cannele watching children on a merry-go-round. The kids on the horses all had seatbelts and the kids on the outer row had a baton like thing, presumably to hit the horses rump to make it go faster.? Adult were not allowed.

10 11 Friday

It has been a long day.  I am well and happy but tired and this will be outline only. I will fill in details tomorrow.

Dawdled over coffee and croissant out at my favourite brekfast bistro, then talking to Noel.

Left here 10 ish to walk to wool shop over the other side of the Seine

Seine as brown or browner than I remember from last year.

Stopped for another coffee and croissant ( fluid inflow and fluid outflow difficult to manage in a city not known for its public conveniences) 

Spent ages at Lil Weasel

Nice lunch. Waiter patient with my poor French

Walk looking for angel

Excellent Musee des Arts et Metiers

Walk back

Another stop, OJ and a chocolate biscuits thing

Browse in bookshop

Walk more to get back.

Quite a few miss turns  today. . My normal fairly reliable map memory was having a day off. But I didn't let it bother me.

10 10 Thur

Today, after coffee and croissant at my new favourite morning bistro, I walked to the Musee de cluny, the museum of the middle ages. Most of it was closed today, but 4 galleries plus the famous lady and the unicorn gallery were open and free. I am here now, I thought, so why not.  I saw lots of  carved alter pieces, plates, some furniture. They had a nice idea that i have not seen elsewhere-  instead of putting 'please do not sit here' signs on, e.g, an intricately carved chest or chair, they had put a piece of a dried flower.. The outside courtyard area was open and quite pleasant to sit in.  

Next I went back to saint Suplice. The odd thing  i was looking for was a Gnomon ( hopefully I will catch up and put some photos here in the next few days), an astronomical instrument commissioned in 1727 by the parish priest who wanted a better idea of when the March equinox would be and hence Easter. Somehow the light hits a sphere ontop of an obelisk and somehow the light is measured in relation to a line  on the floor . Apparently it features in a dan brown book, but what is said in the book is not true.

Also in the church are 3 large eugene de la croix murals. These are unusual because all 3 are a bit violent and, apparently, paintings in churches are not usually violent. Trouble is there was a crowded tour in the chapel with a very quickly speaking French guide so I didnot stay long.

Next stop  was the church Saint Germain des Pres. Last year i went to an organ recital there. I like the coulours in the church . But the only concerts they were advertising in october all started at 8pm at the earliest. Too late for me.

Then I had a latish lunch at one of the bistros near me.

I forgot. When I was leaving my apartment block in the morning, a guy outside said to me ' Do you speak a little english?' I replied, yes, I speak a lot of english. When everyone has a rain jacket on it is harder to tell French from non French , plus, he was American . He was going to rent an apartment in the building and wanted to know about the building and the security. Very good - I showed him.

End Tuesday, Wednesday 9th

Yesterday afternoon I walked the short distance to Luxemburg gardens, one of Paris' s main parks. I sat in a chair in the unusual sun, it was overcast most of the day. A French guy asked me directions.,I understood his French and replied without thinking in mostly italian. I had being trying very hard all day to talk in French. He laughed . He said he knew more italian than english and sometimes it popped out of his mouth when he was trying to speak english.,  like me trying to speak french

.

This morning I planned a route without considering that it was raining steadily. Mydestination was to be a knitting shop on the right bank about 4km away. I need a crochet hook, ( down side of carry on baggage only)  I had a few things to look at along the way.  I have 2 books, one titled Art hiding in Paris, the other Secret Paris. Neither are very well organised. But both have lots of odd quirky bits for me to find. So, after breakfast I walked towards saint Sulpice, the 3rd largest church ( I think) On the way I stopped at a place where there is the last " Standard metre". I think i have heard but had forgotten that the metre was defined in 1791 by the French academy of Science as  1 ten millionth of a quarter of a meridian. The definition has changed a bit since then, but in 1796 16 engraved marble plaques were put up around the city showing exactly how long a metre is.  Only one remains on a wall outside part of the French senate buildings.

I walked on towards saint Sulpice. Over the road from 1 of the back doors into the church is a tall building only 1 room wide. It used to be a brothel run by Miss Betty. I found that one relatively quickly but I searched a long time another one. There were road works, the square in front of the church was pull of tents, thumbers of Saith Sulpice square were clear but I could not find the even numbers. I gave up and was  getting wetter and wetter and grumpy so left the inside of the church for another day . To get out of the rain for a bit i found a nice patisserie with some tables so and went  in for morning tea. Then I   found the apartment block where Pablo Picasso painted the Guernica. I started to walk onwards toward the crochet hook, but decided i was being foolish. By this stage water was running down my lower legs and my phone was playing up. Well maybe if I use it a lot in the rain it objects. It certainly is impossible for a wet screen to recognise a wet fingerprint. . Oops. So I walked home.  On the way i walked past the church again and stumbled across the other brothel. It is a doctors rooms now. You can peer through the front gate and see the original tiled floor and the the proprietor's name Alys 

I took my phone  out of its case ( which was quite wet inside)  and dried it all and it seems fine. My phone/camera/reading book / navigation aid/ etc is very very valuable.

Mon and Tuesday 7th and 8th

Monday.  Ups and downs,

I started the day feeling good. But.. I had noticed the shower head in the shower recess the day before. No where to hang it up. But it was not till I came to wash my hair on Monday morning that I realised that how I have been washing my hair for 73 years relys on having 2 hands free, not 1,holding the shower head. Also the temperature control was extremely sensitive. The water went quickly from freezing to scalding with only 1 mixer tap to control it. I managed. Next I found there was no hair dryer. At least the heater was easy enough for me to lift onto a table and crouch in front of. But the cord across the floor was not ideal. M

I went to a nearby bistro for my morning coffee and croissant.  It was good to think " Ah, I like doing this in Paris," watching people start their day . I am just around a corner from a large intersection - a sort of oval shape with 7 roads coming off it. The several bistros near me are fairly expensive so I went exploring around all 7 wedges of buildings. I could not find anything significantly cheaper. I kept wandering. Gertrude Stein held her literary and arty salon in a building about 7 along the same street as me. I had a nice lunch but it was too much - I must not eat 2 big meals in successive days.

Tuesday

This morning I went to a different bistro for coffee and croissant and stopped at a market on the way home. I bought some cheese. Each was labelled with a sign with a little drawing of either a cow or sheep or goat to indicate its origin . i also got a few huge pears and some clementines ( half way in taste between an orange and a mandarin but peel easily like a mandarin)  then came back here to try and sort out what I am going to do when over the next few weeks. At least now I have a list of things that I would be disappointed if I didn't see, so I will start on that list tomorrow. I forgot.  - this morning I concentrated on getting the shower temp right before I got in. Fairly obvious really. 

I met an Australian friend  who is also in Paris now for lunch at a nearby , well 1.3 km away, cafe. It was very pleasant. On the way back i went into le Bon Marche, a parisian institution. It was the first department store in Paris, founded in 1838. It had fixed prices, allowed returns, offered a reading room for husbands and set up a dorm for unmarried female employees. It also had and there still is lots of art all over the place. The store is built round a central atrium 3 ( or maybe 4) stories high. I only went up and down the escalator once but stood for quite a while taking it all in. There were lots of a attendents standing around. I picked 1 ( admittedly expensive looking fabric and cut) dress at random to look at the price of. ( Sorry for this and future poor english) The tag said E995. Almost $2000.  In one largish area I counted 6 middle aged to older women actively looking, I.e trying on jackets and things.  3 had a man with them. 0

Then I wandered home via a stop for a coffee and a biscuit and a wander around a small park. Next I have to sort my photos from berlin and Norfolk out. Or maybe go for a walk while it is not raining.

Paris, a better day

It is now 6.15pm and i would love to go to sleep, but that would not be sensible. It has been drizzling all day.  I wandered around here, my new home, for a while after leaving the overnight, very pleasant hotel.

The new apartment owners contacted me about 12.15 and  said it was ready. I was nearby and she showed me how things work, etc . I had some lunch at a nearby bistro , very pleasant, then bought some food for tonight. I obviously got her washing machine instructions wrong. What I thought was a short wash only was a long wash and then drying.  Hopefully nothing has shrunk. The apartment will be good

I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Saturday . London to Paris

 I was staying in the Barbican area of london, about half way between where the norfolk train came in, liverpool st and where the Eurostar left, St Pancras. I woke early, had some breakfast at a funny place next door to the hotel. I did not want any bread. There was nothing on the menu without bread. There was an egg and hash brown muffin. I asked for an egg and hash brown without the muffin. Not possible, I was told. I was hungry and ended up eating the muffin.

I walked to St Pancras, found somewhere to sit, waited and did a crossword. There are comments online about how crowded and unpleasant it is getting through the security at the eurostar station. None of those complainers have been through Dubai recently. It was OK. I sat next to a chatty englishman so the 2 1/2 hours passed quickly.

The metro to the station near where i had booked  was very crowded but I managed. But then things did not go to plan. The host was not there and didnot answer his phone.  I left a message and waited, and waited. After an hour I rang the AirBnb people. They tried to contact me, then the said they could not reach my phone. I was determined to stay calm and not let it all get to me.   I got a bed for the night  and then started looking for another place. Very surprisingly I found a place, not quite as nice as what I had booked. The owner responded quickly and hopefully she will be there at 2pm this afternoon. I am not getting excited till I have the key.  But yesterday evening I had lots going on at the same time. AirBnb said that they had returned the money of the first booking to a bank account whose last 4 numbers I didnot recognise, so i had to contact them, then paying for the new place, my card would not go through, so i tried an other  but forgot i had a $1000 limit on transactions, then when i sorted that out , the bank got in touch with me. Did you make this payment? I didnot know how much of the kerfuffle the new landlord could see and whether it would put her off. So hopefully all will be well soon. 

It is Sunday morning now. I had a good sleep, surprisingly. My little single room is in  the roof.  So I have to be careful where I stand or I hit my head on the slopey bit. It was lovely to open the curtains and hear church bells. I enjoyed my first coffee and croissant of Paris in a bakery with a few tables. 

Now I am catching up on photos and other things till I have to leave here at 12. 

Friday . Norfolk to London

 J and D took me to a Park and Ride stop on the edge of Norwich and I caught the bus to a stop near the cathedral. I wandered around inside the Cathedral for a bit but was uneasy. The noise of the wheels of my small carry-on bag  as I pulled it across the uneven stone floor was a bit loud and, I thought, could have been off putting for others, so I went to the Cafe instead.  This is a lovely space , with glass walls adjacent to  the old cathedral walls and glass walls looking onto the trees of the car park in the other direction. 

The train to London was uneventful, except that I talked to a 75 year old lady from a secluded part of Norfolk who lived on her own and did all her own house repairs, gardening, maintenance etc. Her favourite thing was bricklaying. 

The hotel in London was modern and small but well appointed. Dinner was a salad from the nearby Tesco.

Monday to Thursday

monday  :

Pottered around with C looking at famous buildings, an interesting history museum, nice lunch, shopping area. Caught 2 trams ( C not much interested in walking too far) to a nice German restaurant for dinner  for L's birthday. K getting more confident with the German she has been learning. She told the waiter in German that it was her father's birthday ( well, delayed celebration ) and a bowl of iceceream with candle arrived for L. 

Tuesday

C L and K came with me to see me safely onto the tram to the airport. Then train.  I had checked in online but had a message there was some info missing so had to line up for 40 minutes, then lined up for ages to go through security.  Nevermind. Plane was delayed and many people missed ongoing connections. Instead of over an hour I had 5 minutes to spare. My cousin J and his wife D were at Norwich airport to meet me. We went back to their house for tea and cake and then they dropped me at my hotel, 10 min drive away. The hotel is a large seaside place which has seen better days, but is OK. 

Wednesday

I went for a walk first thing along the coast. The colourful bathing boxes looked odd against the rough grey water and the early morning light. Different colours or something.  J  and D picked me up and we went to Sandringham. First we had coffee and cake, then went to the  huge house. Like a castle, but not. I was surprised I enjoyed it so much. There were excellent guides in each room that we were allowed into. They explained who used what room for what. It made the royal,family seem a bit more human. We wandered around the garden and then walked to the little church that they use. Dinner at J and Ds was very pleasant.

Thursday

We went this morning to a place called Horsey to look over  a wind pump that has been restored. Not a windmill to crush grain, a machine  using wind power to collect the water in the fields and pump it back  into the rivers. We were able to climb to the top and see over the surrounding fields. 

Next we went to a different part of the Norfolk coast and saw a colony of about 50 seals lolling around on the sand. Maybe not lolling , appararently a large number of them were very pregnant females. Along the shoreline,  in the breaking waves were quite a few younger seals frolicking,  apparently the younger ones almost a year old.

Then we went to Cromer, a larger seaside town than the one I am staying in.  Late lunch at a very nice fish and chip place, followed by an icecream from a nearby shop and a walk . Lots of work being done to put rocks in places on the sand to help stop erosion .

It has been a lovely 3 day talking to J and D

Berlin day 2 Saturday and Sunday, marathon day

In the morning of Saturday we all left together on the subway, c and I went to a smallish gallery of Modern Art and L and K went to the technology museum. C and I pottered round some quite strange exhibits and some not so strange paintings. The highlight was probably the  morning tea. There were six delicious cakes to choose from. C had a big quandary because cakes were not on her preferred eating list. We went back to our apartment for lunch  and a rest. L and K came back much later after a long fascinating day full of cars, machines of all sorts, planes, trains, etc etc   C cooked for herself ( again, very specific things) and the rest of us went to a Vietnamese place for dinner.

Sunday morning C left early to go to the start of the marathon. I went for a walk soon after, dawnish,  to a bakery with a coffee machine and tables to sit at.  It was about 1.5 km away and the only moving vehicle I saw was a farm tractor chugging along. There are no coffee shops around that open before 9am on any day , let alone a Sunday. We had time to fill in so I took K  back to the bakery through a park.

 The marathon course was  a big loop with   the middle of 1 side closeish to the middle of the other side. L, K and I went to the first of these 2 places. We could see on the tracking app that C had started and we worked out approximately when she would arrive. So we cheered and yelled when she passed us,  looking quite happy. But we could see from her times that she was not going to get the finishing time she was aiming at. We then went to the second place.  And again cheered her on when she passed. Still quite happy but not running as fast as she wanted to. We were pleased she was happy.

Next the 3 of us , me L and K, went on an unexpected and unwanted adventure . We had instructions where to go to meet up with C.  We walked along the end of the marathon route watching and listening to different bands along the way and the continual background noise of people cheering. There was a very festive feeling in the air..We walked to the Brandenburg gate, on the route. Then diverged, following the map to the meeting place but the meeting place was fenced off with people guarding the few places that we maybe could have got through. So we followed the path along the edge of the fence ( along with many other disgruntled people) for several kilometres, then back, but we still could not get near where we were supposed to be . L had rung C and told her to go back to the apartment. We finally got to the subway station and got home. C was very happy and pleased that she had realised that her body was not going to hold up ( she could hardly walk for a large part of last year) so she decided to ease off a bit and enjoy the atmosphere and the amazing buildings and things she was running past. Mind you ,her idea of 'easingoff' still meant that she ran , on average, a kilometre in 5 minutes,  42 times in a row. 

We all went out ( more walking) for a Turkish dinner.  Early to bed for everyone. I walked abou 22 km, K walked about 20 and L about 18.

Arrived Berlin

Yesterday I arrived at the apartment C and family are staying in in time for lunch after a bus trip to Sydney, night in hotel, plane to Singapore, plane to munich, plane to berlin, messing around at the airport buying a local transport ticket with all the machines in German ( I needed help), then train to ostkersomething , then train  to Pankow, then walk.

In the afternoon we went with C to  pick up her race bib by tram, foot, underground ( absolutely packed)  walk at templhof, the old airfield. There were thousands of people, C went one way , we went another to look at 3 old airoplanes , lots of stalls, people taking photos in front of various signs.  

test to see if this still works

Home safely.

Noel and I got got home a few hours ago after an uneventful journey home. A very enjoyable 4 weeks away.

Stockholm still

This morning we went by  a short bus ride and then  1 hour in a commuter ferry to one of the thousands of Stockholm islands. There is a popular waterside town there , Vaxholm  where we had been recommended a cafe. We spent several hours there sharing a prawn salad, a beer for Noel a limoncello spritz ( OK, but I will not need to try another) and then Swedish waffles. We caught a bus back and sat next to a wealth couple who lived at Vaxholm but had a home in Cannes to escape the grey Swedish winter. They had been to Australia 3 times because they think it is interesting! They had been on the train from Adelaide to Perth and the train from Adelaide to Darwin, enjoyed Cooper Pedy etc etc. On our walk back from the bus ( rather too long for Noel but he staggered on stoically) we stopped for a  drink. Noel had a lavender oatmilk latte - he had similar thoughts to me and my limoncello  - OK but not again. 

We will leave here tomorrow,monday,   home mid afternoon Wednesday.

Stockholm

It is 4pm Saturday and Noel and I are sitting in the lounge of our hotel. Our cave is depressing. See later.

We woke early Thursday as our ship cruised very slowly through some of the islands on the outskirts of Stockholm ( you can have rural outskirts of a city but can outskirts be small islands?)  Noel and I went on a walking tour of the old town in the morning and after lunch I went back to buy a few things. 

On Friday morning we left the ship and got a taxi to our hotel. Our room was not ready ( it was 8.30 ish) so we sat around in the largish , pleasantish bar/ lobby area and worked out what to do. We left our  luggage, got a transport pass and then went to catch the bus to the Vasa Museum. I knew there would be a lot of people in town because Taylor Swift is here , but not an extra 200,000 according to the taxi driver.  I had forgotten that that number of extras puts a huge burden on the transport system.  We squeezed onto a bus and , luckily, were able to get off when we wanted. 

The Vasa is a ship built in the early 1600s for King Gustav Adolphus the 4th(?) It was a very fancy large top heavy warship and it rolled over and sank almost immediately after being launched. In the 1970s it was discovered and raised and now lives in a purpose- built display museum.  We managed the return bus trip, but it was very difficult for Noel who is feeling the effects of almost 4 weeks of travelling.   As i have told many people, because Taylor Swift is in town,.we are paying a fortune for a shoebox.  Well, the room assigned to us was a shoebox for a child's shoe. The bed was against one wall, there was less than a foot between the foot of the bed and the wall. Etc etc. I complained and, of course they are fully booked, we got a room with access ( minimal) to each side of the bed, but no window. There are lots of things wrong with it. I will be complaining when I return to Canberra . I think we got a room in the category below what I paid for, but there was nothing I could do yesterday afternoon. ( I too am tired). 

We went to a lovely  restaurant not far away rhat had been recommended to us) and had a typical Swedish nice family- style meal. ( That's another problem. In between when I booked this hotel which advertised a restaurant serving dinner and now, it stopped serving dinner)  We enjoyed a lignon Berry flavoured snapps with our meatballs and veg  and cabbage rolls and veg and  then blueberry pie..

Despite the bed ( narrower than the advertised queen size, but I know European sizes are different  and maybe I didnot check) ( and very narrow after 2 weeks in a king size bed on the cruise)   and despite the cotton and polyester sheets, we slept well. 

This morning  we had a nice breakfast here. It was much better than we expected after the low  standard of our room. We walked 1.4 km through a nice quiet ( i.e. we didnot not have to dodge around people on crowded streets) residential area of Stockholm . We met noel's daughter's wife  at a designated cafe. We spent a lovely morning with her , firstly over coffee and typical Swedish buns ( despite the French name of the cafe) and then a walk with her along a nearby waterway.  The weather is lovely  and warm and we sat for a while in the garden outside the town hall - THE  place to get married - the in and out quickly sort. There were many couples with their families in all sorts of dresses. We walked back and had some late lunch.  Noel and are have been pottering here in the lounge since .  I found a hotel 400m from here where we will shortly have a meal.

. 

Rostock a few photos

Rostock - lots to see from our balcony

 Rostock    - part of the main square

Rostock - St Mary's