My daughter Heather came to visit us this week. Arriving on Saturday and leaving a week later. Coach was very excited that she was staying for a week--he really was.
First stop was lunch at the Elephant and Castle pub, burger for me and a meat pie for Heather.
Next stop was the Palace of Westminster and a tour of where the British Parliament meets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster
And of course a look at Big Ben.
There was a fire in 1834 and it was rebuilt between 1840 and 1870. The only building to survive the fire was Westminster hall, it was built in 1097. And this was the only place we could take pictures.
While we were touring parliament, Leanne had gone to the Crufts dog show.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crufts
This is the largest dog show in the world and lasts 4 days. Giving the choice Leanne would have gone all four days. She had a great time, I wish we would have known about it last year.
Sunday morning Leanne and Heather went for a walk around the neighborhood and checked out the door knobs.
And the mail boxes. A car hit one of these a while back and i got to see how strong they are. Its made of heavy cast iron and about 2 feet of it is in the ground. So the mail box won and the car lost.
Sundays plan was to do as walk in the country, but as luck would have it we missed a connecting train.
Plan "B" is to walk along the Thames for about 5 miles. And the rain was supposed to stop by walking time but it did not. Heather was able to by this stylish poncho at a local establishment.
After 5 miles we got to another train station for the ride back to London. With time to spare we took a refreshment break with Prosecco and cheese. I'm very good at packing things for a break.
Coach enjoyed the walk also but he needed a paw massage. We may spoil him a little to much.
Sunday night we went to one of our favorite places to eat. Its a Thai restaurant in the back of the Churchill Arms pub.
Monday Leanne would be off to work and Heather and I would start the day by visiting the Royal Mews.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mews
The Mews is were the royal horses are kept and also where the Coaches are.
Here are a few of the coaches:
The Irish State Coach
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_State_Coach
The Queen Alexandra State Coach
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Alexandra%27s_State_Coach
This one brings the queens crown from the Tower of London to the Palace of Westminster for the opening of Parliament. There is a table on the inside that the crown sits on so everyone can see it.
This is the Diamond Jubilee State Coach. It's more high tech as it has a heater, eclectic windows and stabilizer shocks. It was built in 2010 and first used in 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Jubilee_State_Coach
This is the stable area. The horses were not there when we walked thru. There were smaller child coaches on the right side.
This is the Gold State Coach, It was built in 1760 and is mainly used for coronations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_State_Coach
Why is is called Mews?
It has to do with falcons, check it out here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mews
Next stop wan the Wellington Arch that is behind us.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Arch
This is a view from the top. To the right is Buckingham Palace, Green park is to the right.
We then went to Little Venice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Venice,_London
This is an area were a lot of canal boat are moored. Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines lived in canal boat in this area when he was in his 20's.
Next stop was the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales_Memorial_Fountain
The memorial was designed by an American and opened in 2004.
For Tuesday we took the tube and went to Kew Gardens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kew_Gardens
First stop at Kew was the over head walkway high in the trees.
The nice thing is they had an elevator to get to it.
Heather taking a break after our walk above the trees.
And me getting in trouble for walking on the gravel.
i guess i need my eyes checked again.
A stop at the hive, with less people than that last time i was here with Leanne. It made the viewing a lot easier.
Next stop was supposed to be a short walk to the Dove pub for lunch. Heather said how far and i said just to that second bridge. I had made a mistake on my route and we ended up walking a bit farther than planned.
The walk would be along the Thames and at this time the river was at low tide. Heather took this opportunity to walk in the Thames, or where it would be at high tide.
After much walking we arrived at The Dove.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dove,_Hammersmith
The pub is listed in the Guinness book of Records as the smallest public bar in the United Kingdom. It is also where the words for for the song "Rule Britannia" were written.
We just wanted lunch with a view.
This was the bridge we originally supposed to be walking to, it was actually the third bridge on the walk. And as Heather pointed out this one was steel and the second one was concrete. It may be i need glasses.
Back on the tube to Westminster station, Heather wanted to get pictures of what she called the "Bat-cave"
When ever you get on the tube you have to "mind the gap". In the states we would say "watch out for the gap".
This is Westminster tube station, or as Heather calls it "The Bat Cave"
Not sure where the Bat mobile is parked.
Meanwhile back in the states, my son-in law Keith get to take care of my grandsons.
Wednesday would be a busy day, Leanne worked from home and Heather and I went to Kensington Palace to see a display of Princes Diana's dresses. After that we went to the Design Museum that opened up down the street. They should work on the "design" more of the displays, it was a waste of time.
At the end of the day we took the train to Paris and a celebratory drink was had as we waited.
The train is called the Eurostar and it only takes 2 hr and 15 min to get from London to Paris.
It had been a long day for me and i was taking a nap, Heather was not as tired.
And apparently neither was Leanne----I woke up quick for this part of the trip.
We arrived in Paris at around 10:00 pm and after a quick stop at the hotel we were off to see the sites.
The Eiffel tower was first.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower
On the hour at night the tower has a light show.
Another view of the tower.
Next stop was the Arc de Triomphe, it honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe
There is a large roundabout for cars that circles it. Not a place I would like to drive.
We took the metro to the Louvre and walked the rest of the way back to our hotel.
It was a great night for walking, this is a view down the Seine towards Notre Dame.
And looking the other way towards the Eiffel tower with the Louvre on the right.
Another picture of the Louvre at night.
The street our hotel is on.
Checking to see if this foot smells.
We passed this at a store near our hotel. Paris has a lot of stores selling art and i guess this it supposed to be art. Its a file cabinet with statues of people in each drawer. Now if you were to buy this what room would you put it in? If the grand kids came over all the little statues would be all over the room.
On Thursday we went to the Palace of Versailles,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles
This is what all the kings in Europe wanted there palace to look like.
We did a self walking tour of the inside and as we walked thru i kept thinking, "it's good to be the King".
This is the Royal Chapel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapels_of_Versailles#Chapel_of_Versailles
Amazingly beautiful and ornate, This is the fifth chapel to be built at Versailles. I guess the first four weren't holy enough.
One of the many fireplaces, this is said to be the best one.
As we walked each room was more majestic than the last,
The King and Queen had there own apartment,
You can only take so many pictures, because each room was something to see.
This is the hall of mirrors, but should be called the hall of people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_of_Mirrors
At the time this was built mirrors were very expensive and if you had one it would be very small. This was the King bragging about his wealth.
This was a slow day in the off season, we would have hated to be there when it was busy.
This one with less people.
This room is the Gallery of Battles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galerie_des_Batailles
This room had large paintings of famous French battles.
This is one of the private staircases, to the apartments. The King and Queen had there own staircases to there apartments.
Lunch break with a lot of desserts to choose from.
Heather and Leanne had quiche lorraine and I had a bagel with salmon and cream cheese.
For dessert we picked this rose shaped mousse.
And we might as well stop off here while we have the time.
Now we step out for a walk in the Gardens of Versailles. If we thought the palace was something we were more amazed at seeing this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardens_of_Versailles
The king decide to improve on his property and add a few water features. The garden is 2,000 acres and has fifty fountains. The lake in the background is shaped like a cross and is a mile long at the longest.
Walking down to where the lake starts you get an idea of the size of it.
Looking back towards the palace.
The King decide it was getting to busy at the main palace and built a little get away on the property.
This is the Grand Trianon, just your typical second home.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Trianon
One of the many rooms,
And it had its own garden.
Yes it is good to be the king.
Me doing my best statue imitation for the fountain. None of the fountains were running the day we were there. And apparently they didn't all run when the King had them all built. The problem was there was not enough water for what he wanted.
Where we would have a picnic table for eating outside, this was just a building where the King would have his picnic.
During the kings time the plants and flowere were changed daily to have a different look. Sometimes more than twice a day. They were all in pots for ease of changing.
This is the temple of love on the property.
Instead of having a doll house Marie Antoinette decide she wanted her own village made on the property.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hameau_de_la_Reine
"Good to be the Queen", but she did lose her head.
This is one of the many statues on the property, and yes they were all covered.
A few more views of the building.
and another pond on the property. All the lakes and ponds were dug in the 1600's by hand. A monumental task just to move the dirt.
After Versailles we walked by Notre Dame.
Another view from a different angle.
Next day we were off to visit the city of Reims, France to visit a champagne house.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims
A short 45 min train ride, Leanne caught up on her reading
and Heather her sleep
We got there around 9 am and it seemed like it was Sunday because the streets were empty
The trams were running but we walked everywhere.
We stopped at Notre-Dame de Reims or the Reims Cathedral
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims_Cathedral
This looked a lot like Notre Dame in Paris with a few minor changes.
A view of the entrance.
The church is 800 years old and was damaged in WW 1 by German bombs.
Time for second breakfast, espresso, french bread with butter and jam.
We would do a tour of the Taittinger champagne house
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taittinger
The main thing here is the caves were the bottles are stored. This is the way to the caves.
The caves here hold about 2 to 3 million bottles, these are the magnum size. A magnum holds the equivalent of three standard bottles.
These are the different size bottles, the standard bottle that you will see at the wine store is the second from the right. The third bottle from the right is a magnum.
These bottle are in riddling racks.
http://www.winepros.org/wine101/vincyc-riddling.htm
Leanne and Heather standing by a cave full of bottles. These bottles may sit there for up to 8 years.
After the tour it's taste time, we were able to taste two kinds of champagne.
A view from the tasting table.
After the tour and a short walk it was time to eat again.
This was an appetizer, artichoke puree with pancetta.
My main was La Bouchée in The Queen Prepared with Chicken, Veal, Mushrooms and Reims Ham, Green Salad
The ladies had baby potatoes, brussel sprout salad and beef with bearnaise sauce.
After a great lunch we walked to the Mumm champagne house to get a sample of what they had to offer. But the only way to do a tasting was to do a tour and we had a train to catch.
Back on the train from Reims to Paris to catch the train to London.
At the Gard de Nord train station, a very beautiful train station.
I think there were 20 station in this place, lots of coming a going.
I know this is a question you've been asking yourself, Do they have french fries in France? yes they do and we had them.
We did not try the french toast or the french onion soup, maybe next trip.
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