Well today is the end of our second full day in Margate, England! I have to say, the last three days have been splendid! We’ve been staying with some absolutely wonderful friends of my aunt and uncles who live in Margate, Jill and Keith. Yesterday, we spent the morning visiting some of Keith’s lovely family and seeing the English Channel, while Jill did the makeup for a bride in the next town over. After Jill was finished, we met up and headed off to Canterbury.

We found Canterbury to be quite a lovely old English town. We drove in and parked next to a section of the old wall that had surrounded the original town. It was built by the Romans and kept in repair for hundreds of years, protecting the people from invaders. They had a nice plaque of information that we could read because (thank god) it was in English!! Then we meandered off through the small cobblestone streets to Canterbury Cathedral. This old Cathedral was built in the Gothic style by the Normans over an old Roman style church which can still be seen in the crypt. The best known event in the Cathedral’s history was the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170. Canterbury, always on the medieval pilgrim route to Rome, became an end in itself, as thousands came to worship at Becket’s tomb, especially after his canonization in 1173. We toured the cathedral and visited the place where Thomas Becket was murdered, marked by a crack in the marble where it is said one of the knights swords was wielded against the unarmed man with enough force to hit the marble and crack it. Unfortunately, the actual grave of Thomas Becket was destroyed by King Henry the VIII, though the spot is now marked with a constantly burning candle.

After our tour, we walked down the beautiful creek that runs through the town and took some great photos. Then we headed back into town for a wonderful Italian meal at a restaurant called Ask. We drove back into Margate after and spent the evening watching some Olympics and the movie Blind Date.

Today, Jill and Keith took us into Dover where we toured Dover Castle, the Keys to England. The castle was quite beautiful situated on a bluff over looking the harbor and the white cliffs of Dover. We went through a really fascinating tour of the secret tunnels under the castle that were used during World War II to evacuate the British and French troops trapped on the shore in Dunkirk, surrounded by the Nazis. This event occurred in 1940 when Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay, with no technology and pitiful resources, masterminded the rescue of 338,000 troops from his Naval HQ in the tunnels below the castle. Operation Dynamo, as it was called, could not have been so successful without the personal boats and water craft manned by civilians from Britain, used at their own peril, to help rescue the stranded troops. The tour used original news-reels and recordings, testimonies from veterans and dramatic effects, creating one of the best tours I’ve seen in a long time. We walked through the interior of the castle next, decked out as it would have appeared during the reign of King Henry the II or Medieval era. It was very exciting to be inside my first castle and the views from the roof were quite lovely.

After Dover Castle, we headed down a ways to see the white cliffs. Ryder and I took a hike down to get a good look at them, taking some great photos with Keith’s new DSLR Canon camera he let us borrow. Poor Jill had hurt her foot and decided to rest it at the cafe by the cliffs with Keith while Ryder and I went exploring. After, we visited Jill’s son who owns a large farm about 15 min outside of Margate. They breed miniature donkeys for show on the farm and we got to visit with a few of them. The donkeys were very friendly and really rather cute in my opinion 🙂

We met with Jill’s son at a real English pub, had some beer and cider and then headed back to Margate where we enjoyed a real English dinner of fish and chips. It was very tasty. Poor Ryder went to bed early with a nasty headache. I stayed up and skyped with family, watched men’s diving, and am about ready for bed! Night all!!

Our very friendly hostel night manager in Barcelona, Fran, had told us to do the Paris Catacombs tour (among many other great recommendations). One quick Google Images search later and I was sold. Bones after bones after bones after bones PLUS it was underground. I seem to love anything underground. It was a ‘must visit’ type of thing for me. We started off the morning of the 8th with our daily vanilla macaroon ritual at a bakery down just down the street from our AirBnb rental and then some cappuccinos at a café nearby. There was room to sit outside and we thought it’d be a nice place to sit and journal for a bit, but as we quickly realized, outside seating attracts the smokers. Not surprisingly, smoking in Europe is much more common than in the US and in California in particular and there’s nothing quite like a deep breath full of unwanted cigarette smoke while you’re trying to enjoy a cappuccino. We downed our drinks, went inside to pay, and took the metro to the Catacombs.

As we stepped out of the metro, the line to get into the catacombs didn’t look very long. What we didn’t see was that the line wrapped around the corner of the street and then some. An all too common sight in Paris around this time of the year. Compared to the Louvre or Versailles lines, the length of the Catacombs line seemed like it would be a piece of cake to wait through. There’s a 200 person limit on the catacombs though so the line moved slow. We got in line at about 11:45 am. At half past noon, another English speaker was walking around telling anyone that would listen that we probably wouldn’t get in based on our position in the line. The day before he had stood in line at about the same spot for 3 1/2 hours before getting in and the kicker was that they stop letting people in at 4:00 pm each day. We contemplated heading straight to the Louvre and forgetting about the Catacombs or staying and possibly wasting our time if we weren’t to get in. We decided to push our luck and stay. We met a lovely family from Canada who, just the day before, joined the line too late and were cut off from entering. The line moved quickly for a little while and then it slowed down for quite some time. I went searching for some water and lunch to consume while we waited in line, and ended up finding baguette sandwiches with a bonus of another vanilla macaroon 🙂

We ended up making the cut and were let in at 3:30 or 3:45 pm. We descended 130 steps and walked about 1.5 km before we saw our first bone pile. It was quite amazing to see as many bones as we did, in such huge quantities and in such a short period of time. Starting at the end of the 18th century, 6 million Parisians were buried there, but they weren’t buried as you would normally think a person would be buried. They separated the bones and placed them together according to the type of bone. Most of the bones we saw were large ones, from the legs I believe, and skulls. It was very creepy to see thousands of skulls in half an hour.

We left in a somber mood and trekked to the Louvre to run through a highlight tour with an audio-guide . The Canadian family was leaving the next day so they let us have their Museum Passes which let us skip the lines again, and also let us not have to use the tickets we bought. Amanda told me we’d have to make a trip back to use the tickets as we have two years to use them and I suggested we learn French before so that we can read the placards instead of trying to guess at the meaning.

We took the metro to the Louvre and ate a dinner that was much more expensive than we’d been used to paying (since it was *in* the Louvre). We walked right in with the Museum Pass, and picked up an audio-guide. The audio-guide highlight tour led us through the same area we had checked out two days earlier but this time we were understanding what we were looking at and the significance of it. The tour lead us through the the room that the Salon was held in which we had walked through before but didn’t realized what it was. Amanda was ecstatic to find this out. We’ve now opted to get audio-guides where ever possible as we learn so much more than just walking through and reading signs which may or may not have English translations.

We continued on to learn more things about different painting and statues and then headed home for the night. I was limping and in major pain at this point. I think I messed up my foot somehow while walking on the cobblestone in Versailles and then made it worse with all of walking in the Catacombs and the Louvre. I limped home and Amanda got me all set up with an icepack and some Aleeve (thank you Tawny for making us take the Aleeve) and a bottle of wine. Just kidding, I don’t mix pain killers and alcohol 🙂 I stayed off of it for the rest of the night and woke up feeling great.

The next day, our train to London was scheduled to leave at 9:13am and we needed to checkin at least 30 minutes early as the Eurostar trains require. What I had failed to recognize when calculating how much time we’d need to get to Paris Gare du Nord was that the metro line we needed to use was under construction and we would have to take a bus between two stations. That threw off our timing and we got to the checkin area about 10-15 minutes too late for the 30 minute minimum checkin. We were still there before the train had left, but they wouldn’t let us checkin. I was angry at the thought of possibly wasting $220 in non-refundable non-exchangeable tickets. For some strange stroke of luck, they let us get on the totally uncrowded next train that was leaving an hour later. We killed some time in the lounge reading and boarded the train at 9:53am.

I’m not quite sure how fast the high speed trains go in Europe but what I do know is that it’s a little scary when you pass a train going the other direction in less than a second. It’s almost easier to hear when you pass a train rather than watching it. We arrived in London and took the Tube to the Victoria station and  waited for our next train. Keith picked us up in Margate a couple hours later took us on a quick tour through Margate on the way to their home. It was a little bit nice to be in an area where all the signs are in English and everyone speaks English. I know Amanda is really enjoying the lack of a language barrier.

So we didn’t write a post for yesterday, I’ll do a quick re-cap. Yesterday we planned a lazy day of wandering the Place de Concorde, where the Luxor Obelisk stands, and the Tuileries Garden between the Place de Concorde and the Louvre.

After some time at the Tuileries we ended up at the Louvre to take some photos of the outside – we planned and still plan to visit Wednesday. Two French ladies came up to me as we were taking photos and asked me if I wanted to see the Louvre. I hesitantly said yes and one of the gals handed me two tickets to the Louvre! I said, “Really? How much?” and she said “Free” and walked away. Wow, so we got a free pass into the Louvre.

We wandered the Egyptian section for about an hour then headed off to see the Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Mona Lisa! Both were absolutely breathtaking to behold in person!!! Unfortunately we were only able to get within 5 feet of the Mona Lisa – stupid security tape. I was hoping to drool over it… We were able to see some other Leonardo Da Vinci pieces up close. I spent some time analyzing the brush strokes, poor Ryder.

After the Louvre we headed out to a cafe for coffee and a pastry each. Apparently we were in the ritzy part of Paris and this wasthe ONE time we didn’t ask for the price (ok seriously, two cappuccinos and two eclairs anywhere else would total 10 euros MAX). We seriously enjoyed the treats, then got the bill… $42.00 total!! We were FLOORED. New rule, ALWAYS ask to see a menue or for the price.

Ok, back to the present…

We had a late start this morning because we watched Blade Runner way too late last night and boy did we pay for it! After breakfast we hiked up to the metro stop and caught the train to another stop where we transferred to another train straight for the Palace of Versailles. We bought tickets for Versailles yesterday at a FNAC store (France version of Best Buy) and bought our train tickets on the way home last night so we were all set to go (I know, I know, planning ahead… you didn’t think we had it in us!). We arrived at Versailles at around noon.

First impression of Versailles, WAY too many people!! Just walking down the road from the station to the gates of the palace was a nightmare. Remember what I said about paying for it… well the plan was to arrive before it opened today and we really should have stuck to the plan! The line just to enter the Palace snaked all the way around the entrance courtyard and took us two hours to get through (worse than Disneyland, no awesome ride at the end). That and the wait for me (Amanda, the girl) to use the bathroom, forget it! Two stalls and a spot in line 15 deep. Let’s just say that I made it a point to get in line whenever I saw a bathroom, because odds were I would have to go by the time I got through the line!!

Ok, ok, second impression of Versailles, opulent and gorgeous!! Everywhere we looked outside was huge windows, gold filigree, intricate statutes, and obvious wealth. Everywhere we looked inside was masterpiece paintings, gold filigree, four different kinds of marble, crystal, did I mention gold filigree? It was quite a site to behold! I spent most of the time walking through the gigantic rooms imagining myself in a ball gown, huge white wig, and dainty healed shoes. Ryder and I were both stuck dumb by the sheer opulence of the place and the grandeur of the French royalty during that time period. No wonder the 99% revolted … 😉 We did the audio tour of the palace which took about 2 hours squeezing around people to take a look, then we headed out to the gardens.

The gardens of Versailles are breathtaking!! It’s hard to imagine seeing something like that out your bedroom window everyday. We walked 4 miles around the gardens, looking at fountains, sculptures, lots of hedges in geometric shapes, and avoiding the masses. It was fascinating to view the landscape architecture prominent in this period. We enjoyed a nutella and banana crêpe each while strolling around. We finished our tour of the gardens at Marie Antoinette’s Petit Trianon where the poor thing could escape from the rough responsibilities of court life, puah!

This chàteau for the Queen was “smaller” than Versailles but still just as opulent. We breezed through the rooms then decided it was time to head back to our flat. By this time it was 6:30pm and we were both starved. Walking back to the station, we stopped to do some shopping and Ryder found a McDonalds. We decided out of perverse curiosity to try McNasty in France thinking maybe it will be better? Well, it was an interesting experience that neither of us will repeat again. Ryder ordered a Royal burger with cheese, turned out to be literally a bun, meat, and cheese. I ordered, what I thought was, a chicken salad. Turned out to be nuggets of breaded and fried cheese instead of breaded and fried chicken. All in all, we give the fries a pass. The train ride home went smooth and we got back just in time to catch the Olympic semi-finals for the men’s 800m. Ryder’s track teammate from Cabrillo High School, Duane Soloman, is representing the USA in this race along with another teammate Nick Symmonds… Spoiler Alert… They both qualify for the final race! Don’t forget to watch and support team USA!!!

What a day.

We spent 8 hours on our feet today walking almost 7 miles around two museums and in between. We didn’t even get to see all of each museum either! We skipped probably 1/4 to 1/3 of the d’Orsay and 1/2 of the l’Armée. You could easily spend a whole day at each.

We got up early today (8:30am, yes, that’s early for us now!) and made our way to the Musée d’Orsay only to find a long long line. You see, most museums in Paris are free on the first Sunday of every month. We choose to get there early to try and beat the line, but it seemed many other folks had the same idea. Luckily, the line moved fast because there were no cashiers, just bag checkers. Amanda absolutely loved the time we spent here as impressionism is her favorite period of art and that’s what the d’Orsay is known for. We saw lots of Monet and Manet, van Gogh and Degas, Millet and Cézanne, Bouguereau and Pissarro. You can easily say Amanda was ecstatic to be there.

As soon as we stepped outside of the first museum, we realized it was raining. What? Raining? My weather app said it would be cloudy but it didn’t show rain! We schlepped it through the mild rain to the Musée de l’Armée.

At the Musée de l’Armée, we skipped SO MANY exhibits because we would have been there until midnight we if read everything. They have more sets of armor than you can keep track of and that’s only the stuff they have on display! We found a gun that shot in three directions at once, a cannonball about 2 or 3 feet wide, swords from the 1100’s, and Napoleon’s Tomb. We ended up buying an umbrella with Napoleon’s symbol on it before going outside for the last time and realizing it had stopped raining. Awesome.

Their World Wars exhibit is expansive and, while very interesting, you need a good two hours or more just for that. We did it in about 30 minutes as we were starving, and very tired from walking and standing all day. We decided to end our l’Armée visit and head home to cook some dinner. We had planned on getting an éclair at a bakery to hold us over until we cooked some pasta but everything was closed as everything does on Sundays in Europe. We ate some cardboard-like crackers with hummus that was supposed to taste like cilantro. But we didn’t care because we were finally eating and sitting, and the day was good.

For yesterday being a travel day, I’m pretty impressed that we managed to hit two tourist destinations. We checked out of our swanky hotel on the Champs and left our luggage with the concierge while we headed off for our first stop, the Eiffel Tower! We took a nice route to the tower that hugged the Seine and passed through a rather ritzy district of Paris where one could find Louis Vuitton next to Burberry, Gucci, and Fendi. Ryder was hot from the walk and decided to switch his pants to shorts by unzipping the bottom… what did I tell you? So very obviously NOT French 🙂

We rounded a side street and there it stood in all its iron spanned glory. I had known from photos that the Eiffel Tower was large, but nothing beats the impression of standing under it’s massive girth (that’s for you Rarig! Or should I say girthy?). I had absolutely NO IDEA it is THAT BIG! We stood and stared with mouths wide open to catch flies, then hustled off for a closer look! The line to get on to the tour was a half hour wait just to buy tickets. We decided, after seeing the views from the Arc de Triumphe, that our time would be better spent sitting on the grass with Ryder journaling and me attempting to sketch this massive, intricate piece of stunning architecture. For those of you who don’t know, the Eiffel Tower was erected for the Worlds Fair in 1889 as the main entrance to the fair. Designed by Gustave Eiffel, it was ment to be dismantled in 1909, but has remained intact as a symbol of Paris.

After our fill of the tower, we headed back to pick-up our luggage and catch the metro to our new home away from home, an airbnb in Montmartre. Montmartre is the artists district of Paris, full of cobble stones, outdoor cafes, street artists, and baguettes. After settling in, purchasing groceries at the near by market, and having lunch, we headed off to find the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, another icon of Paris.

The Sacré-Cœur sits atop Montmartre hill, and was begun in 1876 and consecrated in 1919. We stood in awe at the front of the Basilica  a mixture of Byzantine and Roman architecture. The basilica was massive, with 4 small domes and one large central dome. We purchased tickets to see the crypts and climb the 300 steps to the top of the dome for an entirely spectacular view of Paris. I found my self slightly claustrophobic, winding up hundreds of stairs in the cramped, narrow stairwell with no air flow. The view, however, was well worth the momentary panic.

After our tour, we headed back to our flat for dinner, some nice French wine, and skyping with family and friends. We watched the newest episode of Suits and went to bed!