I’m back from Arizona. It’s snowing right now, and I’m finding it hard to believe that just yesterday, I was looking at cactus. I have about 500 pictures to go through, and five books read, so those will be coming out over the next several days. In the meantime, a few non-pictorial highlights: Short Leash […]
I need to add a postscript to my trip report. Our last day was really all about getting to the airport. Which we did on the RER train, and which afforded us our last great authentic Parisian experience. Now, I had read up a lot about the petty theft problem in Paris. I was well
So by the time of Louis XIV, Versailles was becoming a bit much for the king and his family, so he had a smaller palace built on the outskirts of Versailles, and the Trianons were born. They’re really quite lovely, and way more opulent than a summer house should be. The thing about the Trianons
Versailles, Day 15: Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet Read More »
Versailles is an utterly amazing spectacle. It is grand on a scale that I’ve never experienced before. Standing there, looking out from the Palace to the Grand Canal is a glimpse into a very different world. Versailles is a bit of a trip outside of Paris proper. We took the RER train (basically the commuter
Versailles, Day 15 Read More »
Our next morning, we had some shopping plans. We started out at the Les Halles metro stop, and managed to get completely turned around. Which ended up being a happy accident, as we ended up at the Centre Pompidou, which has a really neat fountain installation in its courtyard. Mistake corrected, we headed into the
Our first full day in Paris, we decided to do some shopping. Which worked out to involve a whole lot of incidental walking. We started the morning at Notre Dame, because, well, we’re in Paris, so we had to go to Notre Dame. Which is fully as fascinating as a medieval cathedral should be. We
I definitely recommend taking the Eurostar train from London to Paris. The transport links are so easy (city center to city center). There’s great leg room (I bought my tickets the first day they were available, so I was able to snag one of the table seats for the three of us. Oh, and the
Day 12: London to Paris Read More »
Since we had our car until the end of the day Saturday, and had to clear out of the cottage by 10:00 AM, we figured we’d be silly not to stop off somewhere on the way back to London. Using my trusty National Trust handbook, I located Stourhead House and Garden, in Wiltshire (so not
Wiltshire, Day 11: Stourhead Read More »
I feel as though I should address the driving situation, even though I barely got any pictures, because I was usually too busy navigating. I should first say that there are a lot of roundabouts in England. So a lot of navigating involves spotting the warning signs so you can tell the driver
Heligan isn’t just the kitchen gardens – it was an estate, so has plenty of ornamental gardens, and wild space. There’s a section called the Jungle that’s stuck inside a steep walled valley, so it’s got a warmer microclimate than the gardens near the house. During Victorian times, it was planted with tree ferns and
Cornwall, Day 10: The Lost Gardens of Heligan – The Other Gardens Read More »