The Last Post

Well this is the last night of my trip and I am in London. I arrived yesterday and I have been staying in Hammersmith. I have a double in room in a person's house. It is extremely good value and it is easy to get into the centre of London from here. I highly recommend that if any of you are travelling that you investigate the Airbnb website (www.airbnb.com) as it has provded me with excellent accommdation in both Paris and London at reasonable prices.

Today I went to the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern Gallery. Both were really good and it was easy to spend a lot of time there. The guided tour of The Globe was worthwhile and it was interesting to watch a couple of primary school classes act out some Shakespeare on stage. Their teachers were excellent in having the students use passages from Macbeth for their acting.

There were strikes in London today which affected some of the train services but I managed to get through with only minor inconveniences. What is it about strikes? They seem to have followed me around this trip. Yesterday I got a parking fine of 40 pounds. Partly because the meter didn't take 2 pound coins as it should and partly because I misread part of the ticket. Ouch.

Last night I went out with Monique and we had a lovely time. She took me to Gordon's Wine Bar in Villiers St, just next to the Embankment Station and it is well worth a visit next time you are in London. It was a terrific place with its own special atmosphere. It is England's oldest wine bar and is largely unchanged from 1896. It's well worth a look on its webpage, especially the photo section. Then we went over the Thames to the Southern Embankment (think of it as London's Southbank and you'll get a picture of what it was like). We had a pleasant Italian meal and a terrific conversation. It seems our lives have some issues but it is largely good; she is in a happy relationship and I'm in limbo; we think travel is an excellent activity and exchanged suggestions of places to go; she is happy with her work and the recognition she is getting but needs more pay while I'm happy enough in retirement and with my voluntary work but would like more pay, but that's not going to happen. On the whole, I have a very good report card to give to Kurt and Jill the next time that I see them.

In the two days prior to that I visited Maria and Auntie Anne in Doncaster and Dara and Terry in Bicester. It was renewing old acquaintances with Vera's cousins but we treat each other as family. I am pleased we all caught up.

Prior to that I had been in Glasgow for two nights. This was a slight change of plan and I am pleased that I did this. I decided not to stay in Windemere and the Lakes District because I would not have had long enough in each place. And despite what people had been telling me about Glasgow I thought it was great. It has a lively arts and performance culture; the dining places were good and the prices were competitive; if it was a little gritty in places it also has a really positive vibe. Saturday night was Halloween and many of the locals dressed up and this added great colour and fun to the streets. I preferred it to Edinburgh. Dawn, who I met on the plane from Paris to Edinburgh, gave me good advice about where to stay and things to do and we shared a lovely meal on the last night.

So that's about it folks. I will be leaving London tomorrow just after midday to arrive back in Australia on Friday at 21:45. By the time I get through customs and immigration it will be a late night so I will stay with Nicholas and Jen before returning to Maryborough on Saturday.

Later on the weekend I will post some more photos of the last part of the trip, including London.

This is the B&B I stayed in at Oban. My room was the one to the left of the door. I was thankful to get a ground floor room so I didn't have to carry my case up the narrow stairs. The house overrlooked the bay and port area. Quiet pleasant really, if it wasn't for the rain. The seafood was excellent here, very fresh.
The British Labor Party was having a conference here later in the week. I wasn't tempted to stay: politicians sound the same wherever they are.
There were some good places to explore here but because of the rain I didn't.









This is the pass at Glencoe where everyone stops to take a photo. The mountains range up on each side and the valley floor is about 700 metres wide. Once again, it is much bigger than it looks in the photo. Out here there is very little in the way of habitation. There was a hotel a couple of kilometres back and obviously about 1000 people who live in Glencoe itself. When you are here you tend to absorb the isolation and the wild nature of the place. It is a place where a number of people go walking but you would be really exposed to the elements and there is not much protection anywhere, as everything is so open.



This is more of the same really.

Glencoe

My stay in Oban was spoiled by the fact that it rained almost non-stop while I was there so I did not feel inclined to go exploring very far.
The drive from Oban to Strathpeffer however, was magic, despite the rain. I drove via Glencoe and it is one of the most famed areas in the highlands. I could never get a photo that really showed the immense size of the mountains. They always felt much bigger than the camera shows. This is a desolate and exciting part of Scotland. People come here to walk through the area. A lady in a petrol station told me that I should always see Glencoe in the rain. Well the weather didn't disappoint. Although I suspect that it is almost impossible to see Glencoe when it is not raining here. Glencoe is the place of a famous massacre of the MacDonalds by the Campbells. It was part of the government's attempts to rid the country of highlanders and it is famous, not so much for the numbers killed (about 138), but more for the fact that those who carried out the slaughter were being cared for by the MacDonalds and were shown great hospitality. It is the treachery that has been long remembered.

Laphroaig

Well, here I am at the home of my favourite single malt. I am with a group of people I started chatting to on the ferry. This is Mark, Amy, Cat and James is taking the photo. We enjoyed each other's company.

We are holding up our rent. A small bottle of quarter cask. This is our due as Friends of Laphroaig.

The tour of the distillery was great. Everyone seemed to have a quiet pride in the place and the product. I now have a better knowledge of the process for making the whisky. And I was careful at the tasting given that I was the designated driver.

Islay

This is the Machrie Hotel where I stayed. It is a little bit isolated; it is a bit tired; the room doesn't have potable water, they supply bottled water; but I would stay there in a flash next time I go to Islay because it has real character and it felt good being there.













This is Port Charlotte, one of a number of small villages on the island. Almost always crammed against the sea and with the roads running past the front doors.
















This is Lossit Bay. It has a real beach with ral sand. I had to acccess this by a 20 minute walk across farm land. Once again I had it entirely to myself. There was not a footprint to be seen.
It must be lovely here in summer.












A small fresh water stream flows into the sea. I just loved the patterns that it made in the sand.



















This is Bowmore, perhaps the largest village on Islay. It is the home of the Bowmore Distillery and the secondary school fo the island.
I came here from the ferry to get accommdation from the Visitor Information Centre but it was shut. It was Sunday.
There are a number of gourmet food and accommodation places here but at 140 pounds per night and dinner on top of that the Machrie had more appeal for me.

Islay

On my first night I went for walk across the golf course to the beach. There was a spectacular sunset. I hope these photos do it justice. I was the only one on the beach (well it is the lead up to winter and it got cold quickly) so it was great to experience the solitude and beauty of the evening.

To Islay

I left Edinburgh at 6.30am which was a wise move. There was hardly any traffic on the motorway between there and Glasgow. It was cold and dark and there was a severe frost. Just before Glasgow it dropped to minus 5 degrees. It started to become light just before Loch Lomond.

It's difficult to describe how beautiful Scotland can be but the photos will do it better than me. I kept on going for superlatives in France but here just look for yourself. Loch Lomond was impressive. And it kept on getting better.



Early morning light at Loch Fyne.












This might just be the best landscape photograph that I have taken.
It is at Inveraray. This is a beautiful village, lots of white cottages and a mist that just hung over the water as the sun was rising.
The Duke of Argyll livves here.

This is a ferry similar to the one that took me to Islay from Kennacraig.

No chance of sea sickness on this voyage.

Barony Castle

This is Barony Castle. It has small but interesting grounds as you can see from this photo.











This is a close up view of the castle. As you can see, it is not shabby. My room is the one with the two second storey windows just above the door. Nice view.

Edinburgh

I haven't got time to put up more photos yet as I have an early start tomorrow. I am driving from Edinburgh to Kennacraig so thatI can catch the ferry to Islay.
Barony Castle was a good choice for a place to stay and the 18 mile drive to downtown Edinburgh each day has introduced me to the differences in driving over here and it has got me used to my Vauxhall Corsa.
I've found Scots to be very friendly and willing to help, if I need it. For example, yesterday I drove into Edinburgh so that I could go to a bank and get some local currency. Well I didn't think that one through very well. I drove for an hour looking for a parking place. I finally parked the car illegally, asked a girl in a restaurant where I could find a park. She gave me directions but said the traffic inspectors were like dynamite (she was not wrong there), then she gave me a pound so that I would have money for the meter.
Another woman who sat next to me in the plane from France gave me heaps of information about the country and what to do in Glasgow when I get there.
Today was a domestic day in the morning. I went to Peebles to do some laundry. It was either that or buy some new ubderwear and socks. I might need to anyway. I'm told I'm probably going to need long johns as I head further north. We shall see. I then went to see the Royal Yacht, Brittania, and then on to Edinburgh Castle.
Keep up the comments everyone, I really enjoy getting your messages.

L'Orangerie and other photos

This is a photo of my apartment in Les Gobelins. It is very comfortable and the Metro is not far from here, about a 5 minute walk.
















These are the Tuilleries gardens. They are very popular and contain a number of sculptures: modern works but also including ones by Henry Moore. The gardens are between The Louvres and L'Orangerie.









Here in the L'Orangerie is one of the water lily paintings by Monet. There are two rooms and each has 5 paintings this size. They are of the pond at Giverney that you saw in a previous post.
In other rooms you can see works by Cezanne, Manet, Pisarro, Sisley and other impressionist painters.






Another view of the Tuilleries gardens.












Here is a reflected view of the pyramid structure outside of The Louvre. It's a great place to relax after all of the walking inside. The old and the new work really well together.

More of The Louvre

Another painting from Year 11 Art. Rubens. But there were so many masters: Vermeer, Raphael, Leonardo, Rembrandt, Courbet, Renoir, Durer, Ingres, Caravaggio, de la Tour, Van Eyck .......................

You will probably recognise this painting too, Monna Lisa or La Joconde. Whilst it was popular, it was not that difficult to get to the front to take a photo. Perhaps there were about 30-40 people there and you could take your time to look at the work. It was bigger than I anticipated and the painting was brighter than I thought it would be. This was just another moment when I saw something as well known as this in real life and wondered about significance of it all. I could never do it but I also wondered what was the value of all of these works. The easy answer is that while it has a monetary value , it is impossible to value its real worth. How great to have so much art history in one place and how priviledged am I to be here to see it.

Here is the ceiling that I lost in the previous post. Not bad.

The Louvre

I spent most of the day at The Louvre and there is no way that I got to see everything. There were so many paintings, statues and rooms to see that it is just not possible. I got to The Louvre at 8.50 and because I had a Paris Museum Pass I got to go to an express entrance. I just had to wait for 9.00am and for the staff to get organised. Hmmmm they are French. In by 9.10am. This is a self portrait by Rembrandt amongst a number of his other works. I never thought that I would ever see these paintings that I studied in Year 11 Art.

The trouble is that you see so many masters at the one time that you are in danger of not recognising how significant all of this is.










There were a number of artists in the building replicating the masters. Here is just one of them. He was working in monochrome, unlike the original. He was so wrapt up in concentration that I could not ask why.









This is a painting of Pont du Gard. If you remember, it was a Roman Aqueduct that I went to earlier in my trip.










It's not always what is on the walls that you have to look at. Sometimes the ceilings are a work of art too. [some how I lost a photo of a wonderful ceiling].



This is the famous Venus de Milo.

Napolean's Tomb

There were a number of other tombs in the building that contained the remains of other famour generals. This was one of them.

















The dome was amazing, particularly as the sunlight caught the gold. Unfortunately I couldn't get right underneath to show the dome properly as I would have had to have been on Napolean's coffin to do that and I don't think the security people would have liked that very much.







This is the altar where services were held for Napolean and his men. You can notice that there is glass behind the altar, it wasn't always there. Napolean would be on the near side, the men (convalescing from Les Invalides) would be on the other. In this way Napolean would be worshippng with his men.














This is Napolean's coffin. In fact he is something like a Russian doll. You can see the outside coffin, but there are 5 others inside. One can only ask why?










This is the outside of Napolean's tomb. It is an impressive building. It is near Les Invalides where the French soldiers recouperated from their injuries and also near the military headquarters in Paris. The tomb faces Les Invalides.

Giverney - Claude Monet's House

This is the famous Japanese garden that inspired so many of Monet's water lily paintings. There is a bridge at each end. It is early morning here (about 9.00am), we were the first bus here and we got to see it before it got too crowded. Even so, it was difficult to get shots without people in them.

What was really great was that having been here, I could see where Monet had painted when I saw his works at L'Orangerie where his largest works are displayed. The reflections would keep on changing with the sun during the day. That's why Monet painted the same scene so much: different light, different picture.

This is Monet's house. There were lots of interesting things inside and lots of primary colours: copies of some of his paintings, photographs, the dining room was yellow and the kitchen was blue.

Apart from painting his favourite pastimes were cooking and gardening.

I wasn't allowed to take photos though.

Just to show you that I am alive and well.

There are so many garden beds and flower types here. In the early morning light and with the dew, I could not resist taking heaps of photographs.

Limoges

On the way back to Paris we stopped off at Limoges to see some of the china for which they are famous. This is a good example and one of my favourite designs. The industry is struggling a little now as people's lifestyles have meant that not everyone now wants a luxury dinner set.

It is still very beautiful.

Back in Paris

Well I'm back in Paris and things continue to go well. My apartment is great and well placed in Les Gobelins (weavers, not the little fairy guys). I went to the Louvre and L'Orangerie today. No waiting because I got a museum pass and I arrived at the Louvre at 8.50am and just had to wait for the 9.00am opening. I saw so many masters' works that I am in danger of not appreciating them enough. L'Orangerie had the Monet water lily series (amazing in scope and scale) and then works by Picasso, Manet, Pisarro, Matisse, Renoir, Gaugin, Modigliani, Cezanne etc (what's not to like).

Tomorrow I am planning to go to Musee D'Orsay if the strikes don't interfere; Versailles on Wednesday and then off to Scotland on Thursday, as long as the air traffic controllers and fuel people only take it out on Air France and not other airlines. We shall see.

I am back to being on my own. It's OK: I miss some of the company that I had on the trip but at least I can do things in my own time.

On Saturday I went to Giverney to see the Monet house and gardens. We were there early and the weather was beautiful. The water lily pond was like glass and there were lots of flowers out. What a magical place this is. The house and studio were good to see with its yellow dining room and blue kitchen. What is also amazing is that towards the end of his life, Monet could not recognise colours and in a sense had to translate colours from memory to his work.

I know I am using a lot of superlatives in my blog but I am seeing so many things that I had only read about before and it is truly wonderful to see them in real life. In this sense it has been a really wonderful trip.

I am receiving emails but cannot send a reply for some reason. I hope to rectify that when I find the cause. Sorry if you are relying on emails to communicate.

Lunch

Lunch at Cahors. And it's take away too!

Albi

This is the interior of Cathedrale de St Cecille in Albi. It size is enormous and it was built to show the power of the church. Whilst the outside is plain, the interior is majestic with lots of delicate touches. The elaborate Gothic scrolling is impressive, as is the light from its stained glass windows. I can only imagine what the impact of this was on people in the 13th-15th centuries.

Whilst the main part of the building dates back to the 13th century, this entry was added in the 15th century and is more elaborate than the rest of the cathedral.

The exterior of the cathedral. One major difference to other cathedrals is that this is made from bricks. The reason for this is a lack of stone in the area.

The city and the cathedral are located on the banks of the Tarn River. These houses have wonderful views.

The Tarn River, taken from the Cathedral Gardens.

We had a wine tasting of Chateauneuf du Pape wines at the Brotte vineyard. There were three classifications: Chateauneuf du Pape; village names and Cru wines. These are a lovely style of wine: elegant, earthy with good fruit. They use a variety of grape types and sometimes blend different vintages toagether.

This is the Pont du Gard. A 2000 year old aqueduct that took water over a 50 km distance. The bridge here took some 5 years to build and uses no concrete. The water runs along the top level, the lower level serves as a bridge. Water was a source of power to the Romans.

This is the papal palace in Avignon. It dominates the town. It is a massive structure. Avignon is a wonderful town, but then all of the towns that I have visited have been special.

Provence