The Louvre

Wednesday 22nd July

Today we spent all afternoone at the Louvre Museum, but first in the morning we did some laundry (such are the joys of international travel).

The Louvre was pretty amazing - you could spend a week there and maybe then see everything. We got the multimedia guides - definitely worth getting as they have audio/visual tours with maps and everything. There are quite a few tours available on these little doo-dads, but we did the French artistry one which by alone took over three hours. There are also Italian, Medieval sections and even an Islamic one opening soon. After our little self-guided tour we got some lunch (well almost dinner by this time) and then went to see the Mona Lisa (it would be almost a crime to go to the Louvre and not see it!), after which we went back to the hotel for the night.

Unlike most museums, castles and churches in Europe, you were allowed to take photos here.

The biggest painting in the Louvre

Mel in front of the Mona Lisa


The throne used by Napolean

The Louvre was originally a palace used by Louis the 14th so some of the rooms were as they were when he was around, such as this one.

The outside of the Louvre as seen from the ferris wheel the previous day

First Day In Paris

Tuesday 21st July

Running quite behind schedule on these posts so will have to keep them short for now and fill them out later (maybe).

Today was our first day in Paris. We walked to the Luxembourg Gardens & Palace from the hotel, then walked through the streets (stopping off at a true Parisian patisserie) and then tried to go to the Louvre but it is closed on Tuesdays. We saw a ferris wheel in the distance so walked up the esplanade a bit, to a little fair/sideshow thing where the ferris wheel was. There was a great view from the ferris wheel and we got our first good look at the Eiffel tower. On the way we found Concorde Column, and a few other monuments. After we went on the ferris wheel we caught a bus to the Arc de Triomphe, then caught the tube to the island where Notre Dame Cathedral is. We had a look around Notre Dame, had a nutella crepe nearby, and went back to the hotel for a shower and a rest (it was a very hot day and Mel got a sun tan/burn)

Dinner was a quick stop at a local pizza place near the hotel and then we took the bus up to the Eiffel tower. We took a LOT of photos of it as we were getting closer - so it took a while to actually get there. Biggest impression - it is HUGE!!! A lot bigger than we thought it would be! After waiting in line for nearly an hour we went up to the second floor (by this time it was dark but worth the wait) and took lots of photos, and then because it was night time we took lots of photos of it on the way back. We missed the last bus so decided to walk back to the hotel - took a long time and it was hot but we got there eventually. We're glad we got to the tower at night though!!

Here's some photos from today:



The Arc de Triomphe


Random (appropriate) bakery we found


Random street in Paris


The Jardin Du Luxembourg - now the French Senate


Notre Dame Cathedral

And our two favourite shots from probably the whole trip:

L'amour!

Monday 20th July


Seeing as we didn't have a huge amount to do today, we slept in until about 11am and made our way across to St Pancras station (with all our luggage) to get on the Eurostar to Paris. Pretty much zero border control - the officials stamped our passports with barely a glance and waved us on through.


The trip to Paris was uneventful. We had paid about 20 Euros more to get better seats on the train, so we got a meal and free drinks. I thought it was pretty much a tunnel all the way through but you travel through the English countryside quite a lot, then about 20 minutes under the Channel. You go through quite a lot of tunnels anyway, so when you actually go under the Channel it seems like just another tunnel and then all of a sudden you're in the French countryside - you can tell because they drive on the other side of the road to England, plus the architecture is different.



Once we got to Paris, I had investigated earlier and found that the hotel was pretty much right next to a Metro station (Paris' version of the subway) so we got some three-day tickets (which was an adventure in itself because of our lack of French knowledge) and hopped on the Metro to the Hotel. We were staying at the Best Western Aramis St Germain. The room was quite small (which from what we heard was to be expected from Paris or any European city) but comfortable and clean and convenient enough to everything. After we got settled in to the room, we went for a walk around the block to get a feel for the place and had Maccas for dinner.


So we don't have many photos of today but here are some random ones from London...


Mel with one of the guards at Windsor Castle


One of the lights at Windsor Castle - note the castle on top.


One of the tour guides/helpers at Windsor Castle


In one of the rooms at the Tower of London


One of the monuments in London - of particular interest to Paul because his Grandmother was one of the Women in WWII

Another random monument - this one is for Captain James Cook

A black cab that isn't black but Mel liked it because of the Union Jack on it

A random guard in London

Self Explanatory

The Tower Bridge

A monument to Queen Victoria in front of Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

The London Eye

A shop on Portobello Road - this one's for you Tracey Langham (it's a Scottish shop with a cafe inside called Charlie's)

I'm In London Still

Sunday 19th July

Our first communion meeting for 2 weeks. We slept in a little bit and caught the train at 9am (for a 10:30 meeting) from Victoria station out to a place called Beckenham which is where the London assembly has been having meetings for the last 15-20 years. Even though (like the Wednesday night meeting) most of them were Australians, it was great to catch up with others like Bill and Brenda, and also meet Pastor Chris and his wife Heather for the first time. After having only a piano (sometimes) and a guitar at the meeting for the last year in Canada it was great to hear all the choruses with a full band - Nathan (Brit) on the drums, Robbie G on the keyboard, Matt on the bass, and Heather on the flute. The Londoners are trying to get some meetings going closer into town near where all the Australians live and are having a big concert/outreach/meeting sometime later this year and inviting the Polski's so if you are planning to be in the area later this year around October or September make sure you get the details from Nathan or I'm sure it will be on http://www.rciuk.org/ fairly soon.

After the meeting we hung out with Rob, Pam and Barb (from Australia related to the Begg's) and we went to the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum's cafe for lunch, and then after lunch had a wander around the museum. Soon after we started wandering around we were wishing we had come here instead of the Tate Modern because there is sooooo much stuff to look at, and far more interesting, like iron gates from the 1200's, and full roman columns, and heaps of statues. The place where we spent most of our time was in the performing arts section where they had costumes and props and sound effects machines from many different musicals. They even had a full replica of Kylie Minogue's dressing room from one of her tours (not that we are fans, but it was still interesting).

After the V&A we just went back to Rob and Pam's place and just hung out - Pam made a nice lasagne for dinner. Unfortunately only one photo today - sorry peoples.

Street Where the Riches of Ages are Stowed

Saturday 18th July 2009

Today we got up fairly early and went to the Portobello road market, which only runs on Saturday. While it's not quite the dark and dreary/happy and dancing place "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" makes it out to be, it's reputation of being the place to go for antiques is not without merit! There are stalls upon stalls selling everything from doorknobs to old plates, original sketches to musical instruments and everything in between, so if you are into that sort of thing it is definitely worth a look.

Some of the items on sale at Portobello Road

After Portobello Road we decided we had to buy a GPS device for our drive through Europe (so glad we did!) so we went to a place called Tottenham court road and bought the cheapest one we could find. It's a Garmin and it can take Australian maps so we'll probably buy them once we get back. Later we met up with the other Aussies in town for a show that Nici had organised previously. The show we went to was called the TomTom Crew, and the arena where it was located was in a giant upside down purple cow (I am not making this up!). The TomTom Crew are a bunch of Aussies who do a kind of beatbox/acrobatic/hip hop/breakdance type show and it was really cool, though it was strange to be an Australian and hearing the performers (other Australians) yell out "It's great to be here London!" They started out with some acrobatics, then one of the guys did a really amazing beat box routine, they also had a DJ spinning some discs, and another one of them had studied Japanese drumming for 5 years so he showed off some of his skills, with some musical numbers and typical Australian humour sprinkled in there as well.

The upside down purple cow

Once we finished at the TomTom crew we went back to Fulham (the area where all the Australians live) and hung out at one of the local parks with Rob and Pam and Nici while they practiced one of their songs to do at camp. After that we went back to Matt and Nici's and a few people came around to eat pizza and talk about future church activities that they might be able to do (of course Mel and I put in our two bob worth).

Us waiting for the others to arrive in town for the TomTom Crew

Regular Programming Will Resume Shortly

Hi All

Sorry for the lack of posts - we have been at the Italian Camp for the last week with no internet access...

Before we resume regular programming, we would just like to say that the Italian camp was fantastic!! You should start planning now to go next year because the Italian camp is in Poland next year... more on this later.

We will now return you to your regular broadcast.

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where Have You Been?

Friday 17th July

We went to Windsor Castle today and it was our favourite part of the English leg of our trip.

Even though we tried really hard to get there earlier, due to circumstances we didn't get there until about midday, but that worked out well because there were less people around then (and it was quite a rainy day as well).

To get there we took the tube to Waterloo and then one of the regional trains on about a 55 minute ride out to the main Windsor Village station. You can also go via Victoria but that involves a changeover and the station they stop at isn't as close to the castle. The village itself is quite quaint - a lot of wealth in that area so a lot of expensive and/or boutique shops but there are also a few antique-y/small village type stores, and you can still find a McDonalds and Starbucks and what not as well.

After a short walk up the hill from the station and through the village you get to the main entrance of the castle, where you buy the tickets to get in, and pick up your free handset for the audio tour.


The walk up to the main entrance of the castle

It just so happened that they were about to start a guided walking tour when we got there so we joined that. The tour guide was one of the guards of the castle (not the ones with the big hats - though they were there too) and she took us around the parts of the castle that were outside - the dry moat, the Queen's jubilee gardens, the various archways and courtyards etc. One of her quotes from the Queen - "Buckingham Palace is my office, but Windsor Castle is my home". The tour guide also pointed out the flag that flies on the top of the main tower, explaining that when the Queen is away it flies the Union Jack, but when the Queen is at home, it flies the Royal Standard (the three lions).


One of the guards that also does the walking tour (though not the one we had)

After the walking tour we went inside, and by gosh and by golly it's all so grand! It started at the miniature house. This house was given as a gift to one of the queens who had a bit of a miniature collection, but the thing about this house is that everything is real - real wine in the tiny bottles, real electrical lights, real plumbing in the mini pipes, real miniature silverware... you get the idea. After that was a small gallery of exquisite doll's clothes (looked like real baby's clothes) then an art gallery of some pieces from the archives of Windsor Castle. Apart from the original Da Vinci sketches and drawings we didn't really recognize much of it but it was still very interesting.

The 'dry' moat (always has been) that is now a garden.

After the gallery was where it got really good. This is where they allow you to walk through the state rooms and it has to be seen to be believed. The main entrance is where they display the typical english castle type thing - suits of armor, swords and axes hung on the wall, statues etc. and then it just gets better. The gallery of weapons (really ornate and decorated guns and swords), the drawing room, offices and dining rooms untouched since Queen Victoria and earlier (one room even has a bed that was made just for Napolean when he came and visited). And of course every room has painted and decorated ceilings, original portraits of the various kings, queens and dignitaries, and is lavishly decorated right down to the furniture. The whole place is just indescribable.

A random shot of the outside of the castle.

After the state rooms we made our way outside and down to the main chapel - St. George's Chapel. There is a great article on Wikipedia about this but again seeing it in person is amazing, and it's kind of surreal to realise that historical figures like Henry the 8th walked on the same ground (and are now buried there as well). The craftsmanship is so detailed and makes you wonder "how did they do that?!" when you remember that it was all done over 500 years ago! We had to get back to London for a fellowship dinner but every evening they also do what they call 'evensong' where you get to hear the choir so that's something to remember.

Unfortunately because we weren't allowed to take photos of the inside it's possible to go on for days trying to describe everything, but it has to be experienced for yourself, and really you won't regret coming here. London itself is great, but really it is just a city and it's hard to see around all the modernisation, but at Windsor there is a tangible history, a feeling of grandeur and tradition that can almost be touched. And being believers in God we could glimpse the British-Israel symbolism and there is a kind of 'closeness' to that part of God's plan. And I haven't even touched on any of the actual events that have gone on here (like the fire of 1997), or the knights system, family emblems and Order of the Garter.


Another random shot of the castle. Yes that does say 1583!

One last side note... as we were leaving the chapel I noticed that the flag on the tower had changed to the Royal Standard, which we remembered signified that the Queen was home. We asked one of the guards if that was the case and he confirmed it - said that she had arrived about 20 minutes earlier! So unfortunately we never got to see the Queen, but we can say that when we visited the Queen, we really did!


Mel with one of the more non ceremonious guards (as opposed to what I thought the ones with the big hats are not called beef-eaters. Beef-eaters are only in the Tower of London).

I'm Henry the 8th I am I am...

Thursday 16th July 2009

Today was a full day but we didn't really do much. As confusing as that sounds, you'll see what I mean in a moment. We tried to get up early again, but had to do some laundry (again) and we called Mel's mum so we didn't get out until later in the day. We really only did two major things - the Tower of London and the Tate Modern art gallery.

The Tower of London is one of London's biggest historical attractions - but it's so touristy (well in summer anyway) it's hard to see the history for all the people going through.

Us outside the tower with a mock siege engine in the background.

Nevertheless there are a heap of interesting things going on, the most interesting of which we found is the Crown Jewels. Unfortunately due to security we couldn't take any photos, but it's definitely worth going to see. Another interesting area near the Crown Jewels is the Martin Tower that holds all the old crowns. These crowns were usually made for a specific occassion and worn only once, but because of the cost the stones used were either hired or taken from an older crown, so these crowns have had most if not all of their stones removed. One of the crowns held over 12,000 carats of diamonds - it is empty now, but DeBeers has loaned 12,000 carats of diamonds to the exhibition and they are sitting in the case in a pile next to the crown! As Mel says... "oooh.... sparkly....".


A restoration of King Edward's private chapel (can't remember which Edward).

Other interesting areas of the Tower of London are the places where they kept the prisoners - usually those who were seen as a security threat but there were also religious prisoners (King Henry VIII banned the Catholic Church and declared himself the religious leader). Some were also held for practicing sorcery and I found myself wondering if they were actually Spirit Filled Christians just trying to preach the gospel! It's interesting to see all the graffiti left by these folk - often times they were allowed to have a chisel or even a mason to do it for them so some of the graffiti can be quite elaborate carvings in their own right.

Some of the graffiti in one of the prison rooms.

After the Tower of London we walked down to down to the Tate Modern art gallery. Along the way though we came across St Paul's Cathedral We didn't really have time to go in but from the outside it is huge - very imposing!

The outside of St Paul's Cathedral

Across the Millenium Bridge (initially when it was built it was swaying in the wind but has since been strengthened) was the Tate Modern, most of which is free to view. This is the first proper art gallery we have been to and we can honestly say we don't get modern art. Again we couldn't take photos but one of the pieces was a thick rope that had been dropped randomly on the ground, and there was also one that was just plain dark blue with a red triangle in it, but our all time 'what the...' was just a mirror - nothing special about the mirror, just a plain old mirror that you can pick up at Bunnings for a few dollars. We will however admit there were a couple of things we liked, like one or two sculptures and there was a giant dining table and chairs the size of a small cottage that was interesting as well.



After the Tate Modern we really didn't want to walk back across the bridge to the tube station so we took a boat ride up the Thames River and back as a shortcut to the station. It was a great little cruise - we went past the HMS Belfast, the Tower Bridge, the old fish market, and of course Big Ben and the London Eye.


The Tower Bridge

The handle on Mel's suitcase had broken when we got to London so we took the tube back up to somewhere near Harrods and bought a new one that we had seen on Tuesday. After that it was back to Matt and Nicki's for dinner.

God Save The Queen

Wednesday 15th June 2009

We thought we had a week to do the tourist thing in London, so we slept in and didn't leave Matt and Nicki's until 11:30am. We didn't work out until later that we really only had three days so had to kind of rush everything in.

Matt and Nicki live near an underground station so we took the tube to Harrods and had a look in there for about half an hour - talk about extravagant luxury! £100,000 speakers in the hi-fi department, £65,000 earrings in the jewellery section... the list goes on. There are some fantastic decorations in the store (like the Egyptian escalator) but after all it is just a store, so we kept going.

We started walking down Picadilly and found a giant archway called the Wellington Arch and the road that passes underneath is called Constitution Hill and it goes through the middle of a park so we followed that down. After getting our bearings on the map we were excited to discover that Buckingham Palace was just at the end of this road so we hurried on down and spent a good few minutes taking photos of the palace, the guards and the Queen Victoria memorial in front.


Us out the front of Buckingham Palace, with the Queen Victoria monument in the foreground.

We were just kind of following our noses at this point and started walking along St James's Park. We had missed the changing of the guard at the palace, and the palace itself wasn't open for visitors until next month so we were a bit disappointed we couldn't get closer to the guards with the big hats. But as we were walking we came across some of the same guards that were more out in the open guarding St James's Palace. We were about to get some close up photos when about 5 more came marching down the driveway from inside the palace and did their own little changing of the guards right there (from what we hear it was the same as at Buckingham Palace just without the band) so that was exciting!


The changing of the guard at St James's Palace. The bobby at the front was there because there was some kind of VIP shindig going on and he was part of the checkpoint at the front.

As we continued walking down alongside St James's Park we came across a few more interesting sights - the Duke of York Column, Regent Street (has a lot of random statues), the International College of Art (had a quick look), Admiralty Arch, a memorial statue of Captain James Cook and right at the opposite end to Buckingham Palace was Trafalgar Square with Nelson's Column.


Admiralty Arch

From there we found some souvenier shops and Mel bought a keyring like she's been doing from everywhere (plus some pressies) and then we kept walking down towards Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.


Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

From there we walked across the bridge to an area called Southbank and took a ride on the London Eye - the big permanent ferris wheel. It takes about half an hour to go around and from the top you can see just about everything - even Buckingham Palace! From there we took the tube out to Oxford Street just to have a look (and to find a GPS for when we go through Europe) but by then we had to get back for the mid-week church meeting.

The London Eye

The mid-week church meeting was a housemeeting and they call it Central London but the only ones in the church who live in Central London are all Aussies, some of whom we were good friends with before we left Australia, so it was great to catch up with everyone!