When I was in Paris, there was a little grocery store around the corner from us on Ile Saint-Louis that sold fresh figs. I'd never seen fresh figs before - not in Ottawa stores. So I bought them on the theory that since I love dried figs, I'd love the fresh variety. And so I did. Tasia showed me how to eat them. I had them with breakfast just ( Read more... )

Arrived home at 1:43 last night, after having a lovely supper at Le Chalet in Montreal with Lil, Lise and maaseruSlept well, but woke up at 3:13 a.m., feeling as if it were time to get up. Then slept till nine. Thought about how, when I went on holiday, I was exhausted, sick with a bad head cold, suffering from insomnia, and lacked energy to do ( Read more... )

I spent the day in Bath with maaseru, Sarah, and our friends Neil and Jong from Ottawa, who met us at the Bath Spa train station. We took the bus tour and then I went to the Fashion Museum at the Assembly Rooms, which had an interesting exhibit of the clothed worn by Princess Diana. Found a wonderful place for dinner, called All-Bar-One, which had the ( Read more... )

It's been a wonderful day, but tiring, since I walked all over Bristol - or so it seems. I'll swear every street in Bristol goes uphill. Good exercise, that. I was proud of my map-reading skills, and didn't get lost once, though the streets aren't always well marked.

Highlights:

• Forbidden Planet. Priority sightseeing, of course. I bought ( Read more... )

It was a day full of adventures and misadventures - we went to Chantilly to see an equestrian show that was amazing. I will have much to say about it. Unfortunately, going there involved dealing with the striking French railway system, waiting for trains that didn't come, and finding ourselves on a cold and windy road at the gates of a castle ( Read more... )

Today was an amazing art day, but I'm too tired to even talk about it now, and my legs are exhausted to uselessness. Must remember for future posting. Oh, what a delicious day.

Eating clafouti aux cerises and drinking Lady Grey Tea as I sort my photos today. A busy, delightful day of sightseeing in Paris. I took one of the tour buses with Tasia and rosiespark, then left them at the Opera and went to see an exposition of arte des bandes desinees. Then walked around the Bois de Vincennes, and watched another episode of The Man ( Read more... )

Thanksgiving dinner is not something I usually associate with Paris, but one of my eagle-eyed Canadian friends here noticed that the Canadian pub near the corner of rue St-Michel and the Quai des Augustins was having a Thanksgiving dinner special today. And since I'd been feeling sorry for myself for missing my Thanksgiving dinner back home, it ( Read more... )

A wonderful, wonderful day in Paris. We (me, Tasia and rosiespark) went to the Musee D'Orsay. Regardless of the art inside that building, the building itself is worth going to France to see: a huge old railway station transformed into an art gallery, surmounted by the most resplendent clock ever seen ( Read more... )

...And loving it. Today:

• visited Anne de Montmorency's lovely palace at Ecouen
  
• Heavy traffic and construction on the way back, so I slept on the bus
  
• Walked on the streets Lymond followed when he samed Mme le Marechale from the soldiers in Checkmate
  
• Saw the site of the Hotel d'Hercule
  
• visited the Saint-Chapelle with rosiespark and then visited her for ( Read more... )