SOMETHING A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT

Today I am being a little bit self indulgent. It was 2 years ago this month on the 3rd June 2015 that my daughter and I went on a trip of a lifetime. I had never been overseas before and I had talked with my youngest daughter about the possibility 2 years before. Well, out of the blue, I decided early 2015 that it was now or never. So, after chatting more seriously we booked our 4 week adventure and departed late on a very cold night ,3rd June 2015, to Paris via Hong Kong.  I have been thinking how blessed we were to have gone before the  terrible terrorist attacks in France and the UK.

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport on 4th June and were greeted by 6 heavily armed soldiers with assault weapons while we waited for our shuttle. I guess things were getting bad even back then.
We eventually got used to seeing armed soldiers at all the tourist sites.

 

On 5th June we got up at 6-00am to collect our Paris Passes and catch a coach to Disneyland.

 

 

Thought this was funny.

 

 

 

Next day, 6th June, and headed off to the Paris Opera House utilising their wonderful Metro. It was there I encountered my first Gypsy pick pocket!

 

 

 

After that we headed off to The Louvre.

 

 

This was Marie Antoinette's ice cream plate.

 

The Egyptian Archaeology section was awesome. They even had sarcophaguses for cats!

 

On the 7th June our first stop was at the Conciergerie which was a former royal palace and prison until Charles V decided to house the law courts there in the 14th century. Marie Antionette was housed there awaiting her execution.

 

 

The main entrance is a huge hall with Gothic arches and beams where everyone congregated and dined. There are bolt plates on the floor where long tables were. 

 

 

Then on to Notre Dame Cathedral. There were an alarming amount of beggars here

 

 

 

After that we visited the Catacombs after queuing for 1 and a half hours in the heat. It was around 29 degrees C. No such thing as sunburn over there.  Unfortunately, I can't locate my photos of the Catacombs. Shall endeavour to seek them out

 

. We then headed off to La Tour Eiffel which is much bigger than I had thought.

 

 

 

Here is my daughter standing in front of one of the tower's feet.

 

 

It was getting late after that so we decided to do a 6-00pm cruise along the Seine which was delightful.

 

 

 

Another couple of train trips later we found the Arc de Triomphe. Oh my! It was quite scary taking photos as there were cars going in all directions. We found this when we first arrived in Paris. No such thing as lanes and 5 does go into one! With bicycles, mopeds, motor bikes and cars all sharing the same roads it is quite a freaky ride with cyclists touching the car and people swapping paint.

 

 

So, that was where I was back in 2015 the first 7 days of June. Only last year, 2016, Paris experienced heavy flooding which saw the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Seine closed. I am so glad we went when we did. We went by rail  on to Carcassone , then flew to Dublin , Ireland. From there we flew to Edinburgh, Scotland then flew to Cardiff, Wales where I picked up a car to drive to Chippenham, Wiltshire where my grandfather grew up , on to Penzance in Cornwall, then back to Cardiff to drop the car off before catching a train to Paddington Station , London for 7 nights. I am going to add more pics of my travels later. I intend to create a separate blog about our journey with heaps more pics but I just wanted to share a couple of pics of a beautiful city which is now under constant threat. May all those who have perished by the hands of evil be held by angels.

 

Angel Blessings.