Yup. Paris.
A short bike ride, a short train ride, a short bike ride....and we've gone from London to Paris!
On the way down from Calais we stopped at some war graves. Had some quiet time to think.
Also stopped near a little village and ate our lunch on a bench overlooking a stream - idyllic! Got bothered by some French ducks (they seem to speak the same language as English ducks. But prefer a better quality of bread.)
We did some of the journey on main roads, some on smaller roads that run parallel. It was great - and there was no rush. Then managed to get lost a few times in Paris itself, but it's quite nice getting lost - you find some lovely parts of the city! And you can generally see enough of a landmark to re-orientate yourselves, anyway.
We called home - Mrs Holmes was there with the boys. Mycroft commented that Paris had a very interesting sewage/water system. Sherlock then asked what was interesting about it... we suggested they could talk to each other instead of using us as intermediateries! So sorry, Mrs Holmes, if your dinner conversation was entirely about foreign sewer systems.
So...we've got so much we could do and see! We've both agreed that we have to go up the Eiffel Tower. Probably late one afternoon, and stay up until it's dark. Or we'll just go up twice, as it's open until Midnight... but tomorrow there might be lightning, apparently...so maybe not then ;)
I'd also like to take John up the Pompidou :) (there's a bar at the top!). And there's other things, but you'll hear about them, no doubt, as we go. Anyone has any very particular recommendations, don't keep them to yourselves.
Here's a picture of our room, and one from the top of the hotel, n the little roof terrace.
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| Our very Parisian view from our room. |
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| Our very Parisian view from our roof. |
Bonne Nuit tout le monde!*
*there is no guarantee anything written in Franglais for the next few days is vaguely correct, or even what I intended to say.
66 comments:
love you :)
This is just...I know everyone says Paris is romantic - but that's only true if you're here with the right person! And with you, it's just...amazing. My face hurts from smiling so much.
Tell me we can do ridiculous things, like put a padlock on that bridge and throw the keys into the water, and go out and dance all night in a Discoteque?
We can do anything you want. You do remember what I look like when I'm dancing though, right? I'm just warning you.
Ha! We'll have to go somewhere with low lighting, or everyone else will realise I'm about 3 times their age!
Anyway, I have no intention of letting go of you when we dance ;)
Sounds perfect. Croissants at dawn! ..That's a breakfast suggestion, not an invitation to a duel.
Mmm...maybe not quite dawn ;)
If you like museums I found the Rodin museum to be an unexpected favorite. But mostly I just like to hang in the cafe (any cafe) and watch the world go by.
Awww, you two! Just lovely, you are. And yay, Paris! Gorgeous place. I shall envy you your croissants. (And the pedant in me must tell you, it's "Je t'adore", which, strangely enough, is considered less of an undying declaration of love - in France - than "Je t'aime". Weird.)
Oh well done, John!!!!
By my time it's still your birthday Greg, so I will pretend I am not late in wishing you a happy one - even knowing that it was, very much so!
You two sound so good together, enjoy the trip, I am sure you will.
fA
It sounds just wonderful, so glad you're enjoying yourselves. :)
Montmartre was a favourite of mine & walking under the bridges & choosing a favourite to sit by & watch the world go by & I remember thinking the Mona Lisa was tiny. :)
Have an amazing time everyone. Xx
Happy belated birthday, Greg! And have lots of fun in Paris!
Enjoying a lazy morning, managed to move from breakfast in the hotel to a cafe so far...
Might rain later, so it could be a day for museums/sights. We shall see where our feet take us.
Sounds like the very best of holidays!
(I wouldn't dream of digging up my high school French to try to correct yours, L--especially knowing that Sherlock is fluent! ;D)
I've twisted John's arm...and we shall take a day to visit the Champagne makers of France.... although not sure how well champagne tasting and motorbikes mix!!
oh, what a lovely trip! now you make me want to go to Paris someday, although I have approximately no French left over from junior high school.
I suppose if I was there I would want to go fabric shopping, as a friend of mine did years ago. and to museums. and cafes. and out into the country side.
Happy extended birthday!
S
I should have come with you and I could have done all the speaking for you! Mummy and Mycroft said I should say I hope you're having a nice time and have you gone up the Eiffel Tower yet? I want to go up it.
We will come back with you and Mycroft, if he'd like to, Sherlock. And thank you, we are having a nice time.
We haven't gone up the tower yet, but we'll make sure to take pictures when we do. Adn we're getting by with the language! How hard can it ever be to ask for coffee ;)
Happy birthday! What a lovely present. The most romantic place I can get in a day's ride (by bike or motorcyle) is probably Boulder, CO, which is less romantic and more beer- and marijuana-filled college town with a generous side of hippies who don't shave.
I wish you a continuing lovely time, since it sounds like it's off to a good start. :)
Ella
I thought John would like to know that Maftet followed me to bed last night, and slept on my pillow.
I am glad you're having a good time.
So you have the whole flat to yourself...and you, two dogs and Maf all cram into your room, during a hot summer, every night? Sounds about right! The degus will be in there too, before you know it!
I hope you're enjoying what little peace and quiet you get.
We're on the mojitos tonight. Although there is a case for ice cream being argued by John, so...
Mycroft - did she sleep curled around your head like a small fur hat or just off to the side? I hope you're having fun too. I'll send you more pictures in the morning - possibly more than you want.
I...encouraged her quite firmly to sleep to one side. Which she took as an invitation to put her tail in my face at every opportunity.
I am enjoying the pictures. It would indeed be nice to visit Paris with you, one day. Although I dread to imagine what Sherlock would manage to get us into as the only one entirely fluent in the language.
It's Paris. There has to be mojito ice cream SOMEWHERE, right?
Ella
As always Mycroft's perspective is interesting. Having Sherlock as the, by far, most fluent member of the party might make for some interesting moments.
I enjoy hearing snippets about the trip. I'd love to go to some of the specialty shops that sell high end fabric and decorative trim (the hand made, intricate stuff that costs hundreds or thousands of dollars a yard), although I believe some of those are open only by appointment to the trade, expressly to discourage too many sightseers like myself.
Walking and eating, though. That seems to be the consensus on what to do in Paris. Carry on!
fA
fA, are you just curious, or do you make clothes or quilt?
fellow fabric fondlers, for a good time, google "fabric shops in montmartre" and poke around. I suppose it would be even more fun if I actually understood more than a few words of french, but pictures are pictures, and pictures of fabric are great! :)
S
also, I think it's so sweet that Maftet slept with Mycroft. I wonder if she'll continue to stay with him after John and Greg get home... time will tell.
in other news, I made rice pudding finally, for the first time, and it's delicious! I'm going to see if I can find a crock pot recipe though, because it did take a lot of attentive stirring, which I did ok with but would like the flexibility of not having to do that if it's an option.
S
Becca - I used to sew clothes and do a bunch of handcrafts poorly, with crocheted lace rising to the level of mediocre. I pretty much abandoned the actual doing while my kids were young. So I admire, mostly. I look at a lot of textile art and some fashion. I have lately been feeling the stirrings of the desire to do, again, but haven't gone back to it.
fA
S. - look for rice pudding recipes one bakes in the oven without stirring, and try to see if they suit you. That's how we've always done it. Of course, summer isn't perhaps the best time for oven recipes.
fA
Rice puddings are ideal for putting in the oven and forgetting about until someone comments on the vague smell of burning. Even then - if it's only a vague smell - they are retrievable.
Bonjour Mes Amis! Un autra belle jour!
Okay enough of that the autocorrect can't cope.
We have taken the train to Reims and are mooching around champagne caves!
Oh man I failed in my coffee making this morning. Sad.
Champagne caves sound fun!
Ella
I went to Reims a couple of years ago - the stained glass in the cathedral is well worth seeing too.
Hope that champagne cave mooching comes with champagne tasting!
fA
I quilt and cross stitch myself, fA, and when I went to Paris (on crutches, alas) we had fun at the fabric stores.
I hope you're enjoying your champagne caves gentlemen :-)
Your trip sounds amazing, well done John :-)
It's only correct to buy a few bottles of champagne from the makers, rigt? Right.
So my bag is clonking merrily as we walk back to the hotel :) How long before we crack one open though...
That's just making sure of the taste before you cart it home, that's all... ;)
We were going to see the lights for the war memorial today but it's raining really really hard and Mummy says we might do it tomorrow. Is it raining there? It's stupid.
Well, maybe tomorrow night it will be better?
It's raining here too. We're having a quiet night in.
Rain in the middle of summer can be miserable, can't it, Sherlock? On the other hand, you're living in one of the places with the most to do when the weather's bad. I hope you and your Mum have a good day tomorrow.
Lestrade, John - sounds like bliss, rain or no rain :-)
It is bliss. I've no idea how I was lucky enough for this man to marry me.
It is so nice to hear about people being happy and treating each other well.
fA
I am communicating with you from the top of the Eiffel Tower!
(Can't communicate with speech, as we decided to climb the stairs as high as you can...no breath left.)
It's stunning up here. If I had any breath left it would've been taken away.
You climbed the stairs? You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
Paris sounds lovely. It's on the list of "someday" cities for me, though. I'll have to be content with London and a bit of wandering elsewhere this trip. (I'd ask how the weather was, but you've already said rain, so I've tucked an umbrella into my bag.)
I've missed you guys. It's been one of those years where I've been too harried and depressed to even go to my therapist, and I kind of fell behind, but I'm planning to sit in airports and catch up with your adventures now that I've got a chance. It's nice to be reminded of how much love there is in the world.
rsf
We haven't been running. It was a trade off.
Although John made me walk in front after the first two flights.
I can't help it if I stumble and have to grab his bum for support, right??
Weather is glorious today! But we're about to cop the end of hurricane Bertha.
Enjoy London. Ask us any questions! Buy an oyster card!
rsf- share tidbits of your trip if you get a chance!
Greg - Your stair climbing technique makes me think if it's the years with you, rather than experience in medical emergencies and combat that make John so valuable on school trips with small children!
Hope you can stay aloft to watch dark settle in and the lights come on over the city. I've seen it elsewhere, never Paris, and it's always been beautiful. Romantic, even.
fA
we're...actually going to go up it again, tonight! We wanted to make sure we got up there for the stunning views, and it was so nice and sunny earlier we couldn't not do it.
But we thought we might head up again around sunset, and watch night fall over the city...
In the meantime we've ticked a few more items off the list... ;)
I want to climb it! And it's nice here tonight so Mummy says we can go and see the lights and Mycroft is coming too. What else did you do?
I'm going to hunt for the literary benches, and see if I can find a Thames river tour, and see Richard III, and get dragged along on a tour to Stonehenge. And that's before Worldcon starts! And I'll look for the museum of Things In Jars if I can remember what it was called. I saw places like the Tower decades ago, and don't feel the need to go back. But I might go to Madame Tussaud's again. And this trip I've promised myself Kensington Gardens.
Amazing how much better I feel when I don't have to go to work... :D
What lights are you seeing, Sherlock?
I hope Bertha doesn't have much oomph left when it reaches you. And that John took advantage of his position on the rest of the climb! Will you take pictures of sunset from the top tonight?
It is the Hunterian Museum, and it is open from 10-5 from Tuesday to Saturday. It is located in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
You may wish to walk past the Tower to view the current memorial to the fallen of WW1. It is quite a sight to behold. They are planting a ceramic poppy for each of the dead from the Commonwealth, I believe, in the dry moat. I think they have currently planted around 200,000, and that number grows each day.
The lights we are seeing are also a memorial to WW1, by the Palace of Westminster.
Thank you, Mycroft. I'll make a point of going to see the memorial. Are they planting it in a pattern to match the losses, or just going along as best they can?
Are there any other things happening in London that I should try not to miss in commemoration of the Great War? Sometimes it feels like it's barely nudged the consciousness here, although I am seeing classes begin to get research assignments.
I do not know how they are planting them I'm afraid.
I am not aware of anything else at the moment - the lights are only on for this week, so will be over before your arrival, I fear.
It is very much in the consciousness here, I am glad to say.
I'm arriving Sunday morning (sitting in an airport right now!) so I might get a chance to see them. If I'm not hiding from the weather. Hurricane fragments are all of a piece with the way my day's been going so far.
I've been handing kids books about WW1 a lot. There are some good ones about the Christmas Truce, and also some works of fiction which seem to work well. Also some books about the flu epidemic of 1917/18, which is an ongoing fascination for me as my maternal grandmother lived through it and told me what it was like and my father was a pandemiologist, so he had a very different view.
I wish more people knew about WW1 here. WW2 seems to generate more interest. But we did make an opera about the Christmas Truce, called "Silent Night", which is wonderful. I was a wet mess by the end of the overture.
Enjoy your trip, RSF!
My husband is incredibly romantic. And blushes when I tell him so. And blames me for it!!
Only because it's your fault!
It's not!! I'm just a very willing target for your romantic inclinations :)
Hope you boys had a good time with your Mum tonight, and the weather held off for you.
We'll see you tomorrow, although we won't be back until the evening. John has more plans!
I just got back from a concert of my most favoriteist band in all the world. i am tired and slightly drunk and covered in other people's sewat and totally disgusting but gery very happy. i hope everyone is wll. wlell. well.
ella
Know what's te bet thing in the world? Showers. Showers are the best. And beds.
Ella
...the showers we've just been riding in are not the best in the world.
Torrential rain. A priest took pity on us and waved us in under the entrance to his church in the end! the rain was so hard we were barely doing 20mph.
Il fait pleut doesn't begin to cover it...
Still, a free coffee, a change of clothes, a very limited French/English discussion and...the rain's pretty much stopped.
First time I've ever stripped off in a church!
I don't know what it is about this blog that makes me comment on it whenever I'm drunk...
Are you guys on the way home, then? Ride safe!
Ella
Ella, I love that you commented in your happiness. Drunk was very obviously secondary to happy. Except maybe in the typing dexterity department.
fA
Yeah, on the way home. And it's stopped raining! Just waiting for the train now.
I'm home now from my weekend off dancing at the dog days ale. Lots to catch up on.
rice pudding in the oven, brilliant! I'll do it that way next time.
RSF, have an awesome time in London, I wish I could have stowed away in your luggage. :D
stripping in a church, only you guys... ;)
S
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