Paris Two

Another day in my favourite city, but much of it spent on either buses or the metro. The Paris traffic is horrendous - look at the photo on les Champs Élysées. You take your life in your hands when crossing the street and I would hate to drive here. Motorists chop and change lanes with absolutely no warning and the parking has to be seen to be believed!!
Daniele and I spent a couple of hours in the lovely Rodin museum and we also went to see Sainte Chapelle on L'Ile de la Cite, but the queue was so long that we decided not to wait. Tonight we went to a photographic exhibition by her nephew Bruno Serralongue, who is making a name for himself covering conflict in developing nations. Afterwards we went into the newer area in East Paris, including the very modern National Library, culminating in a very nice meal in the Bercy Village. It was really buzzing with interesting restaurants being built in an area which was originally old wine cellars.Paris really does exude atmosphere. The architecture is lovely, the French people stylish and the metro is much cleaner than I remember.

Paris

Ooh la la! What a rush this morning. I had booked my train to Paris at 9.15 and I only woke up at 8.30! As you can imagine, I was hoping that the tram and train would connect and they did! The Thalys was full of well-dressed businessmen busy on their iPads and cell phones or reading their newspapers.Daniele met me at la Gare du Nord and after lunch we did the Paris bus tour together. It was wonderful having Daniele to point out all the sights. She was a much better guide than the ear phones and is still very elegant at 70. She lives in a beautiful apartment in Trocadero, very near the Eiffel Tower.Paris is still my favourite city with its beautiful buildings and tree-lined boulevards. The drivers are crazy, parping their horns and changing lanes without warning. There is a constant cacophony of police sirens and car horns.

Brussels again

A wet day yesterday so I had a quiet day, did my washing, went down to the local shop for some stores and read my book, while listening to the classical station on the radio. Actually it was really nice just to relax. Cathy has a very comfortable chaise lounge and I didn't move far from it! At night I went to a wonderful Schubert concert in the Bozar (Beaux Arts) Theatre. It was the first of three Schubert concerts and was the complete 1st and 9th symphonies. I was in 7th heaven in my balcony seat! Thought I was very clever catching trams both ways! Not quite so clever this morning, however! Jean-Luc showed me where to put my rubbish but I landed in the basement somewhere to find the lift door locked behind me! I came out the wrong door to find myself in an enclosed courtyard! I recognized the church I can see from my balcony and fortunately I had my apartment key, but I was nearly a block away from the apartment! Oh! The joys of apartment living in a big city!
Have had a cultural day today. I went into the magnificent gothic Sablon cathedral which had beautiful doors and stunning stained glass windows, then to two art galleries : the Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts, with the old masters and a Margriet exhibition. What a magnificent gallery with marble everywhere. I also enjoyed the musical instruments museum which had a very diverse collection of instruments and you walked around with ear phones to hear the sound each one made. It was such a good idea I thought. There is some really lovely architecture here as you can see from the photos.Brussels has a real buzz and the little cafes in this area where I am staying are very lively, especially at night with people spilling onto the pavement.

Bruges

It is a balmy evening and I am sitting on my balcony with a bottle of Jean-Luc's wine and a good French brie! Have had another busy day on trams and trains.It makes me realize how lucky I have been having friends to cart me round. I have figured out the trams in Brussels today and when I took the train out to Bruges I had to stand all the way, both ways!! Everything goes on the trains - babies, bikes, dogs- so it wasn't a very comfortable journey! Bruges is truly lovely but much more touristy than I remembered. I didn't see any lace makers this time, but I did do a boat trip along the canals. It is called 'the Venice of the North' because of its canals. The architecture in Bruges is stunning, with magnificent vistas in all directions. There are lots of what I call stepped rooves on the buildings. You will see what I mean by the photos.

Brussels by day

Phew! I am kaputt after walking all day in Brussels. Jean-Luc dropped me off at the flea market this morning and I have had a wonderful day exploring this lovely city both on foot and using the hop-on hop- off buses. It has wonderful architecture, especially the huge Gothic churches, lovely tree- lined boulevards, parks, trams and lots of Art Nouveau buildings with lovely wrought iron balconies.Also an interesting history with its Flemish and French influences. The Belgians make chocolates to die for, also yummy waffles and fine lace.Belgium is one of the 27 members of the EU with a very cosmopolitan multi-lingual population. The people are very friendly and patient with my stumbling efforts at speaking French. It has been German for the last few weeks so I am struggling with French. Their patois is interesting eg I am going to go to a Beethoven concert in the Bozar (Beaux Arts) on Tuesday. I am off to Bruges tomorrow and either to Antwerp or into some of the museums on Tuesday.

Brussels by night

Wow!! I am now in extreme splendor in an 'atelier'(my Belgian lawyer friend's wife's art studio ) in Central Brussels. He is a real entrepreneur and Cathy is an artist and is very attractive. J-L and I met 40 years ago and we hadn't seen each other since! They live in Monaco,own a chateau and vineyard near Figanieres in France, these two apartments in Brussels and he is also developing vineyards and a golf course in Argentina!!! I have just had a magnificent meal of mussels with Jean-Luc and Cathy and I can have this apartment for a week. The photo is the view from my balcony! They are both so nice and he even sat squashed in the back of Cathy's little Toyota Ito, I think it is called, when we went out tonight. We have had a tour of Brussels by night and I am pretty tired after 10 hours on the trains today from Oberammergau in Germany. The 2 landscapes show the difference between northern and southern Germany.