Blogs from Paris, Île-de-France, France, Europe - page 10

The town of Fontainebleau can be reached from Paris taking the train from Gare de Lyon station. Exiting the station on arrival, we had to wander about a bit before finding the nearby bus stops. Bus number 1 or 34 leaves frequently and goes by the château in just a few minutes. The château and the grounds are beautiful and well worth a visit.The first references to the Château de Fontainebleau date back to the 12th century. Since then, all the kings of France have lived in the palace, and have continuously enlarged and embellished it. It is a unique example of a royal residence, loved and cherished for over eight centuries. The Apartments of the sovereigns evoke all the pomp and splendour of the French court; antechamber, drawing rooms, ceremonial rooms, the Council Room and ... read more

One of my favourite districts in Paris is Montmartre. Primarily known for its artistic history, the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Coeur on the summit, and as a nightclub district, including La Chat Noir and the Moulin Rouge. Near the end of the 19th century, many artists had studios or worked in or around Montmartre, including Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent Van Gogh. Today it is still a bustling, thriving area filled with cafés, galleries, and artists roaming the squares either trying to sell their work or offering to draw your portrait. We started our day early, taking the Metro to near the bottom of Montmartre. You can either climb the MANY steps up towards the Basilica, or take the funicular, which is what we chose today. ... read more

Our stay in Paris is being blessed by perfect sightseeing weather. It is fine with comfortable temperatures. Other parts of Europe are into very high temperatures while in the United Kingdom wave upon wave of cold fronts is sweeping through. We’ll start the day by trying out the hotel laundry system. The machines are similiar to those in the Troyes laundromat so it all looks straight forward. We need to exchange money for tokens. Easy. We insert the coins and get the tokens, one for washing, one for drying. Twenty minutes later the wash is finished. Problem. Our other token won’t fit the dryer. These companies have it all their own way. We need more tokens, this time with a groove across them, similar to the car wash tokens in Italy. We know what you’re thinking. ... read more

We sleep in. We have a late breakfast. We publish a blog or two, hope you are enjoying them. We Skype. We plan what to do with the rest of the day. We’re in Paris and we can’t spend the day in a hotel room surrounded by bags of clothes, breakfast items, small appliances, purchases, and an accumulation of debris to be disposed of. Just hope we can open and shut the studio apartment door. A decision has been made. We’ll take the RER train into Paris and wander around some gardens. We choose Jardin des Plantes. It is only a short walk to the railway station and already the day is warming up. We decide on single fare tickets today. Hopefully that will get us to our destination and safely back again. Chatelet is a ... read more

July 26 Wednesday Even though I had gone to bed late last night, I still got up early but this time closer to 6 AM. I downloaded all the pictures I took last night and then headed off for breakfast. Not surprising I didn't see anyone from my group. Unfortunately most of the food that was cooked was not to my taste, So I ended up with some ham slices, cheese, and croissants. The orange juice actually was very good. I then left the hotel to go across the street again to the bridge over the Seine River. I took some good pictures of the Eiffel Tower and then headed down to the little island below to get a better picture of the Statue of Liberty. There was a plaque in French but I was able ... read more