well, here I am back again. I've been sick for the past couple of weeks with the most awful cold, the worst I've had in years. The worst thing of all was having no energy, and once we were back in Azpeitia I did what I had to do and then slept. Happily, it's mostly gone and I have energy so yesterday Barry and I did the 15km walk between Deba and Zumaia, on the coast. It was damned hard going at times but we had a great day and after I've finished writing about the final days of our holiday I shall tell you all about that.
So, back to our last 3 days in Paris, seems so long ago now. The rotten cold hit me on our second day in Paris which was a real bummer but I still got out and about, although I was hampered by feeling so lousy and rather lethargic most of the time and also the weather turned cold and a bit wet.
Over these 3 days we went to The Louvre, Sacré Coeur, The Arc de Triomphe, McDonalds, Notre Dame and we ate lots lovely food, drank damned expensive cappuccinos until discovering the much cheaper café crème, and we walked for miles and miles.
The Louvre was, for me overwhelming and we spent a lot of time just trying to find our way. We did get to see Mona Lisa and she did look at me and smile when I finally made it to the front of the crowd. I think she was happy that I didn't look at her from behind a camera. Next up was the Venus de Milo, which is lovely, however, what was most interesting to me is that just in front of Venus de Milo is another sculpture the same, but except with 2 arms, which seemed to me to be equally as lovely but doesn't rate a mention. I have to say that I am an ignoramus when it comes to art. We saw lots of other stuff, including a lot of Egyptian and Greek things which I couldn't help but think ought to be back in their home countries, especially the 'mummies'.
By this time I was beginning to run out of steam so we found our way to the Louvre cafe and I parked myself there with a coffee while Barry went off to look some more.
After a couple of hours he was back having had enough. His comment on the Louvre is that so much time is spent finding the way to various things that in the end it becomes rather frustrating. In the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam I loved Rembrant's work, particularly his painting of faces and I would have liked to have found some of his work in the Louvre but we didn't, but we did find our way out finally, and that was that for the Louvre.
I must say, though, there were no queues except for a very small one at the bag security check but once inside there, there are plenty of ticket machines so we had our entry tickets in no time at all and then just chose our entrance and walked in.
From the Louvre we ambled up the Champs de Élysées as far as the Needle and then after that we just wandered our way through many streets and alleys back to the apartment and I think we stopped off somewhere for dinner.
from the Needle to the iconic Eiffel Tower
A soggy Champs de Élysées
moving house
The next day was May Day, and grey and cold. Because most places would be closed we set off for Sacré Coeur which was only about 30 minutes walk from the apartment but we stopped along the way for breakfast. There were lots of people on the streets selling Lily of the Valley flowers - apparently this is a thing - May Day and Lily of the Valley Flowers. Turned out that masses of people had the same idea, going to the Sacré Couer, and the closer to the basilica the denser the crowd became so we tried to dodge around the masses by finding less crowded streets but finally we had to accept that we would be part of the masses so up the steps we went, us and hundreds more. There is a funicular railway to take up, instead of climbing all the steps, there was also a very long queue to get on it, of course. There was an even bigger queue to get into the basilica so we just walked around it.
Just as we got around the back the rain bucketed down and we sheltered in a wisteria covered walkway in the fabulous gardens. Eventually the rain eased off to a light drizzle so we set off again to the front to see the view which was pretty good but would be, on a fine sunny day, spectacular. Barry was keen to walk down the big steps leading down from the front of it so down them we went and then continued on down and found a cafe for a coffee and something to eat. Had it been a warmer and dryer day we would probably have turned back and walked around the streets which run away from the back of Sacré Coeur and looked very interesting.
almost there - the Sacré Couer
Wisteria covered shelter
the way down
As we were eating our lunch we realised that we were looking out the cafe window and into a street stall selling second-hand stuff. Turned out that this was the beginning of a very long street market of all sorts of second hand things - books, furniture, jewelry, clothes etc etc. What else could we do bit spend the next couple of hours mooching along and poking around in these stalls. Unfortunately, it was raining for most of the time and was cold as well and by the time we got to the end of the street market we were both cold and wet and I was feeling fairly knackered so we found our way back to our place and holed up there until it was time to go and find some dinner. Luckily we were surrounded by restaurants and cafes so we didn't have to go far for dinner. We struck gold, too, as in a fabulous little restaurant, totally casual and unpretentious. It was only tiny with only two waiters, one of whom decided to give us French language lessons. We had a very good time, very good food, very good wine and at the end we got given liqueurs and sweets on the house. It was very tempting to go back there the next night but often these kind of experiences can not be repeated so we went somewhere else.
the finale of dinner. No idea what the liquer was but firewater is an apt description.
Friday dawned cold, grey but not raining. I was feeling worse then the day before but wasn't about to just sit around for my last day in Paris so we decided to go down to the Arc de Triomphe and see what we could see, walk along the Champs-Élysées and what ever else took our fancy at the time.
So, off we went, breakfast on the way, metro to the Arc, found the way to get across the huge roundabout, down into the tunnel for a short way and then stopped - the queue! It wasn't moving and suddenly it seemed very hot, crowded and closing in on me so out we went and lo and behold we found - McDonalds. I am not a fan of these places at all, however, at this point in time I was feeling lousy and tired from the dratted cold, so into McDonalds we went and once again I parked myself. This time with a bag of chips, a coffee and plugged into their free wi-fi. Barry left me to it and went off, with the camera, to have a go at getting to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
I huddled in my corner, happy that I'd bought chips and coffee so could take advantage of the wi-fi and I did some blog, this is where my previous post was done, read some articles and all around me the masses came and went. What a huge turnover that place must have. As soon as people left a table, more people sat down and this was outside of the main holiday/tourist time. Must be complete madness in July and August.
Barry came back (YAY) after a couple of hours. He'd had no luck at the Arc de Triomphe, had been back twice and it was much the same so he'd wandered around for a while and then down to the river to see what was going on, gazed at the Eiffel Tower for a bit and then wandered his way back to find me, and, as I was exactly where he'd left me that wasn't difficult. We decided to give a walk up the Champ de Élysées a miss and so from there we got the metro to Notre Dame and spent the afternoon hanging out over there and then wandering back to our part of the city for dinner.
We had fun at Notre Dame although we didn't go inside - defeated by the length of the queue once again. People must spend hours and hours in queues, much more time than we are prepared to do, that's for sure. We were very happy wandering about and, remembering Emma's experience of "very, very expensive coffee" in the cafe there, we stayed out of every cafe in the immediate vicinity of the church. Eventually we went over another bridge and found a little cafe for a cup of tea and a café crème away from Notre Dame, even so it was still expensive. Over another bridge, Barry said "back on the mainland" but I never had a sense of the islands and mainland in relation to each other. We headed for the metro through back streets and alleys and came upon another church, quite big, nestled quietly in amongst the old apartment buildings just a stones throw from the madding crowd at Notre Dame. In we went to be greeted by an amazing and beautiful sound of the choir singing. Maybe it was their practice time. It was really lovely, after being amongst tourist stuff for most of the time, to just sit and listen in the peacefulness of the almost empty church.
Notre Dame and queue
the 'other church'
on the bridge
resting on the side of the Seine
re-charging
After a while we left and after a bit of trial and error found the metro and went back to Pigalle, the area where we were staying. I had a bit of a rest in the apartment, Barry went to sleep, until dinner time and another lovely meal just down the road.
By the time we got back to the apartment I felt completely drained and went to bed pretty much as soon as we got back and went to sleep looking out the bedroom window, from in bed, at the Eiffel Tower which was all lit up. How could it be any better!
The next morning we were on the train to Irun, another train to San Sebastian and then on the bus back to Azpeitia.
We had totally enjoyed Paris even though the weather was a bit rough and I wasn't feeling very well.
I wish I could remember all the different things we ate but I can't, I only remember that, apart from the disappointing dinner on our first night in Paris, we totally enjoyed everything we had. Everyone seemed ok that we didn't speak French other "oui, merci, bonjour, bonsoir" etc and people seemed happy to help us to learn more words and correct our pronunciation and we had a lot of fun with them.
Usually, breakfast was coffee and croissants, and lunch was beautiful bread filled rolls and a cake that we bought on the way to where we were going and ate sitting where ever we felt like it - on the side of the Seine, on the steps of the Opera House, in the garden of Sacré Coeur. I've just realised that most days we had 2 lunches- firstly the filled rolls and things and then later on we'd have coffee and something in a cafe somewhere. We did do a lot of walking so why not!
The train trip to Irun and then to San Sebastian was wonderful, no problems but I was feeling completely stuffed up - sneezing and sneezing; coughing, coughing and more coughing; sinuses totally blocked; nose running like a river and my eyes watering like a leaking tap so I just kind of lolled in my seat like a wet rag doll and watched the countryside go by. I remember being amazed at how flat it is and that the churches are small, unlike the massive big churches here dominating every town and tiniest village. It was actually no,hardship to be traveling feeling like I was because the trains are so comfortable and I just had to sit there
At the railway station - either it's a bery dangerous place or everyone is over protected!
from the train
Finally we were at the bus station in San Sebastian and - what! Where's our bus stop???? Gone!!! Yes, that's right - while we'd been away the bus stop for Azpeitia had been moved - not very far as it turned out but it was a little disconcerting at first. We were in good time for the last bus at 8.30pm so we went to the nearby cafe, came back at about 8.15pm and waited fro the bus.. and waited ... and waited ... and waited some more. Finally, when the bus was 45minutes late Barry had had enough and decided that it just wasn't coming and that we'd taxi back home. There was another guy also waiting so the 3 of us got a taxi and shared the cost. Much more that the bus but a whole lot cheaper than a hotel room for the night. It was very strange because our experience of the buses here has been really very good. Up until that night all the buses that we'd used had come on time, always.
And so ended our holiday. In a word MARVELOUS
There were ups and downs but the ups sure outweighed the downs, we saw a lot of amazing things, had a huge lot of fun, met some fabulous people, had some great experiences and our time with Emma and Sam - priceless.
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