South of the river again

Our Wednesday exploration began with a Metro ride to Place Monge, where a small but charming street market was in progress. We accidentally missed the Pantheon and walked down rue Mouffetard, filled with enticing food shops. Then a left turn to the imposing Grand Mosquee, and on to the Jardin des Plantes, in which we spent some hours. This is the botanic gardens of Paris so we were surprised to find plants there which we, in Australia, regard as weeds, particularly a variety of solenum with black berries.
A pleasant place to be. Tony took the opportunity to skim a Le Monde left on a bench and have a kip, while Wendy took time to observe the passersby especially the children who were enjoying the freedom of the garden.
We continued to Arenes de Lutece, a Roman arena dating from about 150, looted in the 3rd century and rediscovered and restored in the 19th. Now used as a great kids' playground and picnic area by Parisians and not well known on the tourist trail, it is a park worth a visit if you're in Paris.
Walking back towards St Paul lethargy and the warmth of the day nearly overwhelmed us but we revived as we neared the food shops of St Paul where, from the salmon shop we chose, from among many origins of smoked salmon, Shetlands, along with rollmops and blinis to accompany.
Walking along the street we saw a handsome pair of 14th century buildings which required a photo.
Nearby was the amazing Izrael deli (yes, the spelling is correct) emitting wonderful food fragrances onto the street, but we proceeded home. It will keep.
On the other hand will we be able to resist the Queen Elizabeth dolls we saw next door with hands waving appropriately and which would no doubt top off our experience of the coming royal visit!

Church and State and the mother of all gothic churches

On Tuesday we took a walk down a long street, rue Rambuteau, which culminated at St Eustache, not particularly beautiful but has France's largest pipe organ and was chosen by Mozart for his mother's funeral. The parish curates for just about all years with 4 numbers are listed, though the present church dates from 1532.
Across a green space is another edifice, the Bourse du Commerce, not the stock exchange but the 18th century market for grains. It has survived several fires and according to the legend outside is only partly restored, but what a magnificent trading floor!
In the afternoon we went to St Denis, which our Paris web adviser Tom (who put us onto the unforgettable ice cream) ranks as the number one must visit in the city.
A lengthy Metro trip to the North-west perimeter of the city is repaid by something literally awesome. The first ever gothic church, from which all others are copied, built on ground sacred to Christians since the burial of Denis in 250AD. The remains of just about all the rulers of France since Dagobert and Clovis (7th century) have ended up here. The roll call is 42 kings, 32 queens, 63 princes/esses. There are 70 recumbent statues and tombs, including of course Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette.
Pictures of the nave and rose window follow.
A wonderful afternoon was completed with a walk around the large, open square from which the Basilique de St Denis arises and a refreshing ale in it's shadow to prepare us for the trip back to our apartment.

Ile St Louis and left bank

Today has been a fairly quiet day because it is warm and humid. It will take us a few days to acclimatize but it is wonderful to see the sun. We started fairly late in the morning and walked to St Paul at the rue de Rivoli and then over the bridge to the ile St Louis. There we wandered through narrow streets, bought some food and went to the end of the island from which one can see the mainland and the ile de Cite on which is built Notre Dame. We sat and ate lunch with a picturesque view of the Seine and the other island. We could not, however see Notre Dame as it was hidden by many apartment buildings. It was very relaxing and we could probably have sat all day but there was a higher duty to be attended to - an ice cream which we were told is not to be missed and how right was our informant. We agreed it was certainly the best we've tried. The brand of ice cream is called Berthillion and worth it if your ever on the ile de Louis. see picture of extreme concentration!

We paid a momentary visit to the Institute de Monde Arabe which was closed and to which we will venture another day. The architecture was amazing, one building being a big bubble and the other being an ordinary block shaped building the windows of which were decorated in designs reminiscent of traditional Arabic patterns- see photo- and we learned are motorized and change hourly.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the Latin quarter and the small streets around St Germain. Although we sat outside Shakespeare and Co near the fountain pictured below, we didn't see anyone famous but we did fill our water bottles.

Settling into le Marais

Our apartment has been spruced up since last year; all is well except we still can't tune a French TV. Will need to confer with our owner on Monday.
Saturday afternoon is time for basic grocery shopping and doing the washing.
Dinner at Chez Marianne, (good reviews on multiple websites), a degustation of kosher fare- well prepared dips, meat ball, falafel balls, fish, vegetables middle east style; accompanied by a 37.5cl bottle of Cahors, an always reliable region for good value red (also recommended by Shannon Bennett).

On Sunday time is given to family communication- in our apartment we have the best 2 way video we have ever experienced; all our correspondents except Xanthe comment. Then a visit to the oldest covered market in Paris, Le Marche des Enfants Rouges (1615). A mere postage stamp size on the food section of the Queen Vic market envelope and far from the madding crowd, at least on mid morning Sunday. The charm is in the politeness of personal service - our vegetable stall man sets aside our plastic bags one by one and comes round to the front to hand the whole bunch to us. The boulanger adds a roll to our selection of a small loaf. ("Cadeau!") The bread was delicious with a slightly sheeny low crumb texture.

We have cod for tonight and a few days' vegetables. Tony was tempted by the pumpkin size tomatoes and romanesco broccoli heads, but the chef passed on these, and also the chanterelles, at least for today.
In the afternoon a we strolled into the bustle of Place des Vosges and viewed it's trendy galleries for art and sculpture and tourist produce.
Next to Vosges the Hotel de Sully pictured is typical of the district. The new piece of garden art, not in the web photos, is the giant molehill with bronze mole.

The beautiful Kew Gardens

Half an hour's ride by tube from central London and after payment of vast sums of money we found ourselves in the beautiful gardens at Kew. The place is so restful after the hustle and bustle of the city. It is characterised by large specimen trees and fabulous vistas along with some beautiful flower beds in their final blush before the end of summer. We enjoyed the whole day there looking at the various greenhouses one which had a spectacular display of orchids and astonishing but not photogenic desert plants. Overall a great day preceded by that climb up The Monument which has recently been restored and opened to game climbers.

It was fun being in London again but it can't outshine Paris.

Saturday morning saw us on the Eurostar heading to Paris and weren't we glad to leave the very ordinary hotel we stayed in in Bloomsbury. Great area but we'll stay somewhere else next time.

We arrived at our apartment in Paris and immediately felt at home. Even the wifi works here - amazing!

The second London day Part 2

After Monument we tubed out to Kew Gardens for a satisfying walk through much of the 300 acres.

The second day in London

A tube to Monument, where we climbed the said Monument. Here are some views.

Two days in London

We didn't check in to the George until about 8pm on Wednesday, so just the next two days to experience London after more than two decades.
On Thursday we explored the environs of Russell Square. First a sortie into the British Library. After filling out forms with more intrusive questions than for a Chinese visa in the days of Deng Xiao Ping, we got reader registration and I located a book I've been hunting for years.(joy!!) It would take 48 hours to fetch from off site, so sadly the request to read was abandoned.
Nearby the British Museum beckoned.
In the afternoon a walk to peek in Gray's Inn garden designed by Francis Bacon, followed up with a long stop in the pub opposite to imbibe a largish cider.
On our walk I saw a quintessential streetscape above the red buses.

A visit to a lady with a sense of humour

On Wednesday 21 September all four of us jumped in the car and trundled up to London to visit an elderly relative currently in care in a very well maintained facility. She is gentle, frail, longsuffering, alert and has a great sense of humour.

The story of how she arrived at that facility is a statement about the inadequacy of the NHS. In December, at the age of 91, she was taken to hospital following a mishap. To this point she had lived independently in her own flat and although frail was managing with the care and support of a younger relative of whom the hospital was well aware and was interested in being involved in the discharge plan.

However, the staff at this hospital, which is one of London's larger and better known hospitals decided that she was senile when she didn't respond to them shouting at her. This lady is exceedingly deaf, a problem only moderately helped by hearing aids. The outcome of this situation was that she was sent home one night in a taxi, in her nightwear and dumped on the footpath. Had it not been for the generosity of a passerby who carried her up to her flat, the outcome might have been dire.

Subsequently arrangements were made for her to move into her current placement which she recognises as appropriate to her needs.

All correspondence with the hospital have been met with silence or stonewalling.

Joys Of relationship

Our stay in Portsmouth was marked by the generosity and graciousness of our hosts Erika and Glyn. They showed us the sights, spent time with us and put up with our idiosyncracies without demur.

Their knowledge of the history of Portsmouth gave us new insight into the relationship between that city and the movement of convicts to Australia.

We walked around the quaint old town of Portsmouth with it's cobbled streets and varied allowances for tides in the buildings along the road.

We enjoyed the variations of weather that can be produced in day - a bit like Melbourne really but perhaps more dramatic.

Our Portsmouth hosts

Portsmouth

Sail ahoy!

We had no blog access for our stay in Portsmouth with Erika & Glyn, so a retrospective photo story will follow. Portsmouth is now pictorially defined by the big Spinnaker, and various historic warships now including the ill fated Mary Rose- which regrettably we did not find time to view.

Unrandom act of kindness

Our friend Robyn came from the other side of Melbourne to drive us to the airport. It made a big difference to the feel of the beginning.
Qatar Airlines have operated with their usual total professionalism.
The big change is at Doha Airport. The transfer terminal is very close to where the plane stops now. The terminal is more comfortable than Qantas Club.

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