The week was non stop fun, with lots of sights, food and drink. They arrived on Thursday the 19th and after a quick stop at the house to drop off the stuff we were off. We walked thru Holland Park and then stopped at a pub for lunch and a pint.
And then on to see some of the sights.
We started Friday with a visit to Borough's market a wholesale and retail food market that dates back to 1272.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borough_Market
If you want to eat, this is the place.
Or have a pint.
And as you can see its not Weight Watcher approved.
After lunch we headed across the London Bridge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge
Now for some crazy history. This bridge was rebuilt in 1974 and the old bridge was sold and moved to Arizona. Yes, London Bridge is in Arizona, and I have the picture to prove it.
After crossing the London Bridge in London, (not to be confused with the one in Arizona) we stopped for a visit at the Tower of London. It's one of those things that you have to see if you visit. And Kat wanted to see the Crown Jewels, sorry Kat no free samples.
And as the sun was setting we got some great shots of the Tower bridge
and a great panoramic shot of the area showing the sunset.
Saturday we were off to Portobello Road.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portobello_Road
This is another place were vendors sell just about anything. My sister Diane would call a lot of this stuff "happy crap". You're real happy when you buy it but when you get home you realize its just crap.
Kat looking at a new purse, there are things that are a bargain, you just have to get thru the happy crap to find them. As you can see Greg is being the good husband by telling her it looks great. Notice Kat's new purse in later photos, it will look familiar.
Also on this street was a men's clothing store, they had hundreds of old sewing machines on display.
That night we met up with friends of Kat and Greg's for dinner. The meal was Italian and the pub stop after was gin and tonics. It was interesting that the pub closed at midnight on a Saturday night.
Sunday it was off to Camden Town,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_Town
another place with lots of happy crap.
and also where there are canal locks.
From there we went to the Abbey Road crossing made famous by the 11th album of the Beatles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road
And then to Maida Vale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maida_Vale
and the area of Little Venice.
and of course a stop at a pub.
Monday was spent on a hop on hop off bus for a trip around London. We had a very knowledgeable guide that would add comical stories thru out the ride.
Tuesday (my birthday) it was off to Paris by train. Why does Greg get to sit next to my woman on the train? Answer: I can't ride backwards on the train.
The one thing you will notice in the Paris pictures is the absence of people. The terrorist attack has taken its toll on the economy. All the normally busy tourists spots were void of the long lines. Any thing we wanted to go to we got right in. Good for us, bad for the tourist industry. Our hotel had a number of cancellations and was only half full, it was normally full. Greg talked to a cafe owner and food was 70% of there business, they were down to 20%. And a cab driver thanked us a number of times for coming to his town.
Once in Paris our first stop was at the Orsay Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_d%27Orsay
The Orsay has the largest collection of impressionist and post impressionist paintings in the world. The building was once a railroad station that was scheduled for demolition but was suggested to make it a museum.
The view from the top level.
One of the two clocks with a glass face to see thru.
We spent over 2 hours there, not near enough time to see everything.
Dinner that night would be at a restaurant whose specialty is souffle's. For the appetizer we had either the lobster/crab souffle.
or the blue cheese souffle.
The main courses were Duck, Coq au Vin, Mushrooms and Kidney and a Sea food dish. All were very good.
Dessert was a chocolate, Grand Marnier souffle
and mine was a Rhubarb and Cherry souffle, everything was fantastic.
and a nice walk back to the hotel with friends.
Wednesday would be a busy day trying to see all we could. There was a presence of the military at most of the places we would be today. Usually about 6 soldiers with automatic weapons.
Our first stop was Louvre Museum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre
This place was huge, and we only saw a small portion of it
Checking out the Venus de Milo
One of many long rooms of art, this one had paintings.
It was a little crowded by the Mona Lisa, but we were able to get up close.
And the painting were all sizes.
Next stop was the Eiffel Tower
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower
The lines were short so we were able to get to the top very fast. I'm not very excited about heights as you can tell.
The heights didn't bother Kat and Greg.
or Leanne
They were great views,
but it was great to be back on the ground.
Our next stop was the Arc de Triomphe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe
It was raining and cold when we got there, but it was another great sight to see.
As you can see very cold and rainy
near the monument was a Cartier jewelry store decorated for Christmas.
Next stop was to find a warm place for a drink. We found this place (it was the first one we came to) and once in realized we should have walked on a bit. It was famous for a place were celebrities go.
good thing I ordered a drink with a lot of volume to it, this one is called a Green Hornet.
After we warmed up a bit and the rain stopped we went back outside. This is a view from the Champs-Élysées
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champs-%C3%89lys%C3%A9es
Time for dinner, not as good as the night before but it was still very good. And another wonderful walk back to the hotel.
Thursday, Thanksgiving day, last day in Paris.
The next few pictures is the area where our hotel was. Lots of restaurants, bakeries and pastries shops.
and yes it all looked real good.
look at all the bread and also how big some of them are.
Enough of the food, on to something educational. Being brought up catholic we couldn't go to Paris with out visiting Notre Dame
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris
This building was very run down compared to all the other churches we have seen over here. If you go to the Wikipedia page it explains about it. It was actually used for a food storage.
another large pulpit to preach fire and brimstone.
and the outside with the famous gargoyles, there were to many to count. A lot of them were in need of repair and some were gone altogether.
Little kids must have loved to go to this church.
a view from the back of the church.
And then a stroll down some side streets and more places to eat. This had beef, chicken or pork with the dripping going in a pan filled with vegetables. Hungry? Lets move on the the next shop.
Sea food and all kinds, not for me as i am allergic to shellfish. The display looked great.
This is the small street that had all this great food.
Lets not for get dessert, i think you could gain weight just by walking down this street.
This is supposed to be the narrowest house in Paris, just 2 windows wide. They must sleep standing up.
Another few of one of the many food streets.
Greg decide to have pot of mussels, i didn't think he could eat all of them. Leanne, Kat and I had French onion soup, with either chicken or a pork chop and french fries.
St. Micheal fountain, we came around a corner and there is was.
Time for the ride back to London. As with most of the rail stations in Europe this one is also very beautiful and large.
Friday,
As you all know in the states the day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. One of the biggest shopping day of the year. In the spirit of Christmas people get in fights to get a great deal on something they don't really need. But the price is to good to pass up---sounds like a lot of "Happy Crap".
London also has black Friday, its the day after Thanksgiving---even though they don't celebrate it---and some places have specials on turkey dinners.
In this picture Kat is pointing out some diamonds to Leanne. I guess size does matter.
At Harrods, biggest store i have ever been in. You could literally "spend" your vacation there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrods
Kat pointing out stuff we need at our house.
at the wine glass area--how did we find this place in the store.
and then a leisure walk thru a small square.
It was a great week visiting with close friends.
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