London and Paris
Paris, France
We haven't posted for two weeks because the Dankowskis joined us in London and we have been "running" from sunrise to sunset.
We met up in London and did all of the wonderful tourist things: the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, shopping at Harrods, a double-decker bus, etc. Mel and the Dankowskis ran into a rehearsal of the horse guards preparing for the Queen's Birthday Parade which took place after we left London but the rehearsal was very colorful. Those are the guys with the red uniforms and tall, black hats. (some pictures to follow from Mel)
We had wonderful, wonderful tour guides whenever we went on a walking tour. Brad and I toured the inns of court (offices and law schools). We saw where Dickens rented space and wrote and where Rumpole of the Bailey was written and filmed. At the Tower of London, we were toured around by a Beefeater whose history lesson was very funny and included all of the gory details, such as how "drawing and quartering" was done. (I will spare you those details.) We toured Hampton Court (one of Henry VIII's palaces) and were toured around by a guide in costume who presented himself as a courtier to Henry. And, we went on an evening pub tour, exploring some of the back alleys of London and sampling some of the local brews (not that we waited for the tour to do so) with a former actor who laid the British accent "on thick" for our benefit.
Unfortunately, London has some of the most skillful pickpockets in the world and we met up with our own artful dodger on a bus in London. (He got Mary's wallet.) Fortunately, she was able to replace the credit cards quickly and not much cash was in it.
We left London for three days in a rural area northwest of the city known as the Cotswolds. It is hard to imagine England having such rural areas, especially since the Cotswolds are very well known and popular. They are composed of tiny towns whose housing is primarily built of a golden-colored stone. We stayed in Broadway, in a B&B, parts of which date back to the 1400s. The area is hilly and sheep farms surround each town. We stopped in Oxford on the way to Broadway. While in Broadway, we spent one day exploring a few of the other small towns. We also spent a day in Warwick Castle which is one of the most medieval-looking castles in England and which contains several areas in which wax figures help explain the history of the castle. So, in the basement there are several rooms that contain a recreation of all of the aspects of soldiers preparing for battle in the middle ages and in several rooms on the second floor there is a recreation of a dinner party from the 1890s to which the king has been invited. Both events really occurred in the castle.
On our way back to London, we toured Bath, which (as the name implies) contains ruins of a roman bath and temples (built somewhere between 70 bc and 200 ad) and Stonehenge, which is a 5,000 years old mystery. Historians and archiologists can only guess at how the ancient people conveyed the stones, which are 18 - 20 feet tall and weigh several tons, from Wales and how they were used.
Next, Paris. I adore Paris. The food is absolutely divine. We and the Dankowskis had dinner, on the first night, with old friends, Fay and Tom Cook, in their Paris apartment overlooking Rue St. Germaine. Fay and Tom are on a one-year sabbatical from Northwestern University. They are living in Paris for a year, working at Science-Politiques University. On the next evening, we and the Dankowskis had dinner with old friends from Park Forest, Therese and Jim Settles. We went to a traditional French restaurant which served seven courses meals. There is no menu. You only had a choice of two offerings per course, such as either lobster soup or asparagus/wild mushroom soup for the first course, pate or scallops for the salad course, lobster or turbot for the fish course, rabbit or steak for the meat course, then cheese and finally a choice of desserts. Each course was quite small, in the French tradition, so we were not stuffed at the end. For breakfast, we usually eat croissants. They are a "whole different animal" in Paris, light and flakey.
In between the great meals, we have seen the Louve and the Eiffel tower, at night, when the lighting is most dramatic. We have visited the Musee D'Orsay, which contains a large collection of impressionist art. We took a boat ride on the Sienne, toured Montmarte (the artists area where Van Gogh, Utrillo, Degas and the rest of the "bunch" used to live) and walked our legs off. We walked all along the Champs D'Elysses up to the Arche De'Triumphe, which Mel, Greg, Sydney and Holly climbed. Oh yes, our son, Greg, daughter-in-law, April, granddaughter Sydney and grandson, Ethan, have now joined us.
Mary, Brad and Holly left for home, this morning. Tomorrow, we take a train with Greg, April, Syd and Ethan to a house in Mausanne-les-Alpilles, a small town in Provence (the south of France).
We hope you are all well and miss you lots.
Love,
Janet
We haven't posted for two weeks because the Dankowskis joined us in London and we have been "running" from sunrise to sunset.
We met up in London and did all of the wonderful tourist things: the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, shopping at Harrods, a double-decker bus, etc. Mel and the Dankowskis ran into a rehearsal of the horse guards preparing for the Queen's Birthday Parade which took place after we left London but the rehearsal was very colorful. Those are the guys with the red uniforms and tall, black hats. (some pictures to follow from Mel)
We had wonderful, wonderful tour guides whenever we went on a walking tour. Brad and I toured the inns of court (offices and law schools). We saw where Dickens rented space and wrote and where Rumpole of the Bailey was written and filmed. At the Tower of London, we were toured around by a Beefeater whose history lesson was very funny and included all of the gory details, such as how "drawing and quartering" was done. (I will spare you those details.) We toured Hampton Court (one of Henry VIII's palaces) and were toured around by a guide in costume who presented himself as a courtier to Henry. And, we went on an evening pub tour, exploring some of the back alleys of London and sampling some of the local brews (not that we waited for the tour to do so) with a former actor who laid the British accent "on thick" for our benefit.
Unfortunately, London has some of the most skillful pickpockets in the world and we met up with our own artful dodger on a bus in London. (He got Mary's wallet.) Fortunately, she was able to replace the credit cards quickly and not much cash was in it.
We left London for three days in a rural area northwest of the city known as the Cotswolds. It is hard to imagine England having such rural areas, especially since the Cotswolds are very well known and popular. They are composed of tiny towns whose housing is primarily built of a golden-colored stone. We stayed in Broadway, in a B&B, parts of which date back to the 1400s. The area is hilly and sheep farms surround each town. We stopped in Oxford on the way to Broadway. While in Broadway, we spent one day exploring a few of the other small towns. We also spent a day in Warwick Castle which is one of the most medieval-looking castles in England and which contains several areas in which wax figures help explain the history of the castle. So, in the basement there are several rooms that contain a recreation of all of the aspects of soldiers preparing for battle in the middle ages and in several rooms on the second floor there is a recreation of a dinner party from the 1890s to which the king has been invited. Both events really occurred in the castle.
On our way back to London, we toured Bath, which (as the name implies) contains ruins of a roman bath and temples (built somewhere between 70 bc and 200 ad) and Stonehenge, which is a 5,000 years old mystery. Historians and archiologists can only guess at how the ancient people conveyed the stones, which are 18 - 20 feet tall and weigh several tons, from Wales and how they were used.
Next, Paris. I adore Paris. The food is absolutely divine. We and the Dankowskis had dinner, on the first night, with old friends, Fay and Tom Cook, in their Paris apartment overlooking Rue St. Germaine. Fay and Tom are on a one-year sabbatical from Northwestern University. They are living in Paris for a year, working at Science-Politiques University. On the next evening, we and the Dankowskis had dinner with old friends from Park Forest, Therese and Jim Settles. We went to a traditional French restaurant which served seven courses meals. There is no menu. You only had a choice of two offerings per course, such as either lobster soup or asparagus/wild mushroom soup for the first course, pate or scallops for the salad course, lobster or turbot for the fish course, rabbit or steak for the meat course, then cheese and finally a choice of desserts. Each course was quite small, in the French tradition, so we were not stuffed at the end. For breakfast, we usually eat croissants. They are a "whole different animal" in Paris, light and flakey.
In between the great meals, we have seen the Louve and the Eiffel tower, at night, when the lighting is most dramatic. We have visited the Musee D'Orsay, which contains a large collection of impressionist art. We took a boat ride on the Sienne, toured Montmarte (the artists area where Van Gogh, Utrillo, Degas and the rest of the "bunch" used to live) and walked our legs off. We walked all along the Champs D'Elysses up to the Arche De'Triumphe, which Mel, Greg, Sydney and Holly climbed. Oh yes, our son, Greg, daughter-in-law, April, granddaughter Sydney and grandson, Ethan, have now joined us.
Mary, Brad and Holly left for home, this morning. Tomorrow, we take a train with Greg, April, Syd and Ethan to a house in Mausanne-les-Alpilles, a small town in Provence (the south of France).
We hope you are all well and miss you lots.
Love,
Janet
posted by Mel and Janet Muchnik | 4:33 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home