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Published: March 22nd 2008
Le Penseur
In the gardens of the museumFlying on budget airlines is certainly cheaper but often not faster! It took us 1 hour and twenty minutes on a bus from Barcelona to Girona Airport to catch our flight. When we arrived in France at Beauvais airport we had another 1 hour and 20 minute bus ride into Paris itself! We made our way to a cheap hotel that we had booked on the internet and another 2 or 3 trains later on the Metro we emerged to find our hotel was literally situated on top of the entrance to our Metro stop! Talk about convenience! There was even a creperie next door and we became regulars in no time!
Paris We had both been to Paris before so spent a leisurely few days taking in some of the sights that we hadn't seen before or else wanted to revisit. The Rodin Museum was our first visit as it had been closed on our last visit and we only got to see some photos of the gardens that Michael and Joel took when they climbed up the high walls to peek over! This time we marvelled at the sculptures in the main
museum and wandered around the immaculate gardens that were adorned with many of Rodin's scuptures. It was a real thrill to see Le Penseur and The Kiss.
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Musee D'Orsay Our next stop was the Musee D'Orsay, which used to be a 1900s train station. The actual building is a work of art that equals the exhibits inside that date from 1848-1914. What a thrill to see so many famous paintings that we had only ever seen photos or prints of and to be introduced to some more new favourites. One painting that I really loved was a picture of Peter and John, two of the disciples, as they ran to the tomb when they heard that Jesus had risen. The expressions on their faces were incredible. I had to take a photo of that one!
Two of the evenings we were in Paris we met up with Enrique, one of Michael's good friends whom he had met while studying at Uppsala University in Sweden for a year. Enrique is from Chile and is now working in Paris. We met him near the Pantheon and went and had dinner in a very popular nightlife area. The guys had
a lot to catch up on and we really enjoyed the evening together.
Famous Landmarks No visit to Paris is complete without Le Tour Eiffel. We had been to the top before so this time we contented ourselves with a wander around and then found a spot in the gardens and enjoyed some orange juice, wine and strawberries that we had bought at a supermarket. We then walked through the Luxembourg Gardens which had been built for Maria de Medici, Queen of France from 1600-1610. It now houses the Senat, the upper house of the French Parliament. Next stop was the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter, which we had seen the evening before. It was quite an amazing sight decorated with yellow banners and hundreds of daffodils as a fund raising activity for cancer! The Pantheon was commissioned as an abbey church in the mid 18th century. In 1791 it was converted into a mausoleum for 'the great men of the era of French liberty'. We saw the tombs of Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile Zola, Braille and Marie Curie as well as many others.
Ile de la Cite On our last afternoon in Paris Michael decided
Horse Staue outside the Musee D'Orsay
I couldn't resist a photo of this magnificent statue! to go back to the Musee D'Orsay and check out more of the paintings with the audio guide. I decided to visit Ile de la Cite where Paris had been founded during the 3rd century BC by a tribe known as the Parisii. By the Middle Ages the city had grown from a few huts to a large metroplis that spread out on both sides of the Seine River. We had taken a tour inside Notre Dame last visit, so this time I instead walked around the church enjoying the different views of the building and the surrounding gardens. The view from the back is just as impressive as that from the front! Last time I had had a great time feeding the sparrows in front of the church and this time I took quite a few photos of an old man who obviously loved the pigeons as much as they loved him! He must visit and feed them everyday!
Saint Chapelle with its famous 13th century stained-glass windows was also very impressive. It was built in three years and consecrated in 1248 to house the Crown of Thorns (supposedly worn by the Crucified Christ) and other relics purchased by
King Louis IX. The Conciergerie which used to be a luxurious palace was built in the 14th century, but during the reign of terror (1793-94) it was used to incarcerate enemies of the Revolution.
Final Stop Our trip was just about over but we still had a 3-day stop over in Singapore. It was amazing because when we started our 3 month trip Michael didn't know where he was going to do his Masters programme. He had been researching possibilities on the trip and had settled on Singapore and we 'just so happened' to be having a stop over there!
We arrived at night and after stepping off the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport which is the equivalent of the Underground/Metro) I was hit by the humidity that is Singapore! After three months of winter in Europe it was a shock to the system!! It was nearly midnight and I volunteered to watch the bags while Michael found a cheap hotel! Thankfully it had air-conditioning!
Singapore Did you know that Singapore is a city, an island AND a country! It is only 45 kms by 25 kms and yet 10 million people live there! We enjoyed our couple of
Le Penseur
Inside the museum days there and took the opportunity to head out to the National University of Singapore and see the Registrar. Michael is now back there studying and enjoying the university setting. We wandered along Orchard Road and enjoyed Asian cuisine, which was delicious and very cheap. We found most other things quite expensive and we didn't have much room anyway for many extras with our 3 Moroccan mats and Berber blanket stuffed in our backpacks! The Jurong Bird Park is definitely worth a visit. It houses 8,000 birds, 600 species and 30 endangered birds. The Waterfall Aviary has a 30m high man-made waterfall. We enjoyed the two shows they put on: the All-Star Birdshow and the Birds of Prey. The latter was particularly impressive with all sorts of eagles and vultures skimming our heads during the display!If you ever go to Singapore don't miss it!
Raffles Hotel No visit to Singapore is complete without a visit to this famous hotel. I felt like I was stepping back to my childhood Kenyan days when we walked into the lobby! The hotel started as a modest bungalow that belonged to an Arab trader, Mohammed Alsagoff. It opened as the Raffles Hotel in
Rodin's The Kiss
It was very interesting listening to the teacher explaining The Kiss in French! 1887 and was the haunt of many writers such as Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, Herman Hesse, Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward and Gunter Gras. Somerset Maugham wrote many of his Asian tales under the shade of the Frangipani tree in the garden. It is claimed that the last tiger to be shot in Singapore was killed in the buiding in 1902. The famous Singapore Sling, a cocktail, was invented 13 years later by barman Ngiam Tong Boon.
During WWII the hotel became quarters for Japanese officers and later a transit camp for liberated Allied Prisoners. It was affectionately known as the 'Grand old lady of the East' and in 1987 was declared a national monument. It was reopened after a facelift that cost $160 million, in 1991.
We enjoyed a cocktail and wandered around soaking in the ambience! I photographed the recipe while there so if you want to try your hand at a Singapore Sling, go ahead.
Back Home! We flew back to Perth on March 22, three months to the day that we had left on our epic trip and incidently a year ago today! I had visited 15 countries: Austria, Slovak Republic, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania,
Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Morocco, Spain, France, England and Singapore!! We had slept in hostels, cheap hotels, a bus station, an airport, trains, buses and I lost count of the number of beds! It had been the most amazing time and I would like to say BIG thank yous to Michael for being a fantastic travelling companion for three months, to Joel for welcoming us to Vienna and allowing us to share some of his 'Exchange experiences' and joining us on many of our adventures and to Colin who so graciously encouraged me to go for so long even though he was only able to join us for 5 weeks of the trip! Thank you also to all of you who posted comments on my blogs. It was a great encouragement and certainly helped to give me a sense of audience!
Next Blog??? Joel has invited me to join him in Nepal during the April school holidays to do some trekking so, God willing, my next blog will be on Nepal! I will keep you posted!
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Colin
non-member comment
Great to read your latest - look forward to Nepalese stories!!
So good that you have been able to finish your Europe stories... no many wonderful memories and beautiful photos!! Now get your hiking books on and be ready for Nepal!!