Friday, September 30, 2005
30/09/05
So I left Waterloo on the Eurostar at 10am this morning. As per usual it was a mad hectic panic checking in (as per usual). The trick is to actually show up 30 minutes before your train leaves so you can avoid the 3 hour queues :P Once on the train it was a fast train ride into Paris Nord, the time flew by even faster with my companion - a Sudoku book.
I managed to wrestle my way through the Paris metro system with my back pack - only managing to get my pack stuck in the train doors once! Hooray for me, and made my way to my Great Uncle's place. It was about 2pm at this stage and they were at the airport waiting for my parents from Zurich. I was told that I could pick up the keys from the school gatehouse, (they live in a school as my great aunt works at the school). After managing to find the entrance to the school (some weird bizarre doorbell - on a school day during school hours! Go figure?), I had to communicate using my pathetic french. It took awhile, but I managed to get the point across. I was pleased to finally get into the apartment and have a nice shower.
It wasn't until 5 hours later that my parents arrived with my great uncle and aunt - about 3 hours behind schedule. Apparently they had to switch to another airline in Zurich so there was a huge miscommunication - thankfully it all worked out in the end! Once they had unpacked and everything, we loaded into the car ready for the drive up to Cabourg in Normandy.
Cabourg was a really quaint little french village on the sea. There was a beach (although it was too cold and windy to go for a dip), and a local farmers market right in the city only open on Sundays.
The following day we went to another local market at Dives-sur-mer. It was a gorgeous market with stalls setup in a 500 year old barn-style building (Les Halles). It was just enjoyable perusing the local grown fruit & veg, local cheeses, meats and seafood. I don't know why on every street corner was a stall selling roast chicken - each rotisserie holding a minimum of 12 chickens. Mind you I don't remember seeing anybody actually buying the chickens so I don't really know where they all go!
We went for a walk down the beach at Cabourg before heading to see all the Normandy WWII sites - Juno beach, Gold beach, Omaha beach, and Pointe du Hoc. It was really amazing to see the arromanches (remains of the make-shift floating port), the pegasus bridge, the cannons and bunker remains still on these beaches. It was moving to contemplate the bloodshed and the number of lives lost at these beaches. These numbers became more apparant when we visited the American Cemetery (the one with all the white crosses in all the movies) and we saw the thousands of soldiers that lost their lives in combat.
For tea we had a fabulous seafood platter full of Langoustines; baby shrimps almost like yabbies; sea snails (not so nice); and beautiful oysters! It was the first seafood extravaganza that I've had since being here! Fantastic!!
The following day we went to the Cabourg markets after wandering around to the Grand Hotel and some snow-globe shopping. At about lunchtime we started heading back to Paris via Honfleur and Deauville.
Honfleur was a beautiful port village with tiny cobblestone streets on a hill. There was a beautiful old church made entirely out of wood - St Catherine's (15th Century). It was magnificent and was only large enough to fit the population of the town in those days. Honfleur is predominantly an "artist's town" and to celebrate this fact most of the stores in the town are art galleries. There were some astounding pieces of work though - sadly a little too expensive for my art budget!
After Honfleur we headed to the 'Beverly Hills' of Normandy - Deauville. Once again it was another beautiful village, with very fancy designer stores. No bag was less than 400 euros :P It was still an amazing place though right next to a beach.
We made it back to Paris by nightfall capping off a wonderful weekend in the North of France.
I have to say, most of France is a lot more spectacular than Paris. Paris is a typical city speckled with some beautiful tourist sites (Sacre-Coeur, Eiffel tower, Notre Dame) but it has lost the french-flair. I can understand now why the french distinguish 'French' people from 'Parisiens'.
The remainder of our trip was catching up with my parents university friends and family in Paris, and taking them around to some of the sites (the Louvre, Montmartre, Place de Clichy, Chinatown). Sadly, I still have yet to see Versailles!!
After a couple of days in Paris, my parents and I bid farewell and returned to London (5/10/05). The following morning I accompanied them to Heathrow and saw them off at the airport. It was a little sad to see them go - I was starting to get used to their company.
So I left Waterloo on the Eurostar at 10am this morning. As per usual it was a mad hectic panic checking in (as per usual). The trick is to actually show up 30 minutes before your train leaves so you can avoid the 3 hour queues :P Once on the train it was a fast train ride into Paris Nord, the time flew by even faster with my companion - a Sudoku book.
I managed to wrestle my way through the Paris metro system with my back pack - only managing to get my pack stuck in the train doors once! Hooray for me, and made my way to my Great Uncle's place. It was about 2pm at this stage and they were at the airport waiting for my parents from Zurich. I was told that I could pick up the keys from the school gatehouse, (they live in a school as my great aunt works at the school). After managing to find the entrance to the school (some weird bizarre doorbell - on a school day during school hours! Go figure?), I had to communicate using my pathetic french. It took awhile, but I managed to get the point across. I was pleased to finally get into the apartment and have a nice shower.
It wasn't until 5 hours later that my parents arrived with my great uncle and aunt - about 3 hours behind schedule. Apparently they had to switch to another airline in Zurich so there was a huge miscommunication - thankfully it all worked out in the end! Once they had unpacked and everything, we loaded into the car ready for the drive up to Cabourg in Normandy.
Cabourg was a really quaint little french village on the sea. There was a beach (although it was too cold and windy to go for a dip), and a local farmers market right in the city only open on Sundays.
The following day we went to another local market at Dives-sur-mer. It was a gorgeous market with stalls setup in a 500 year old barn-style building (Les Halles). It was just enjoyable perusing the local grown fruit & veg, local cheeses, meats and seafood. I don't know why on every street corner was a stall selling roast chicken - each rotisserie holding a minimum of 12 chickens. Mind you I don't remember seeing anybody actually buying the chickens so I don't really know where they all go!
We went for a walk down the beach at Cabourg before heading to see all the Normandy WWII sites - Juno beach, Gold beach, Omaha beach, and Pointe du Hoc. It was really amazing to see the arromanches (remains of the make-shift floating port), the pegasus bridge, the cannons and bunker remains still on these beaches. It was moving to contemplate the bloodshed and the number of lives lost at these beaches. These numbers became more apparant when we visited the American Cemetery (the one with all the white crosses in all the movies) and we saw the thousands of soldiers that lost their lives in combat.
For tea we had a fabulous seafood platter full of Langoustines; baby shrimps almost like yabbies; sea snails (not so nice); and beautiful oysters! It was the first seafood extravaganza that I've had since being here! Fantastic!!
The following day we went to the Cabourg markets after wandering around to the Grand Hotel and some snow-globe shopping. At about lunchtime we started heading back to Paris via Honfleur and Deauville.
Honfleur was a beautiful port village with tiny cobblestone streets on a hill. There was a beautiful old church made entirely out of wood - St Catherine's (15th Century). It was magnificent and was only large enough to fit the population of the town in those days. Honfleur is predominantly an "artist's town" and to celebrate this fact most of the stores in the town are art galleries. There were some astounding pieces of work though - sadly a little too expensive for my art budget!
After Honfleur we headed to the 'Beverly Hills' of Normandy - Deauville. Once again it was another beautiful village, with very fancy designer stores. No bag was less than 400 euros :P It was still an amazing place though right next to a beach.
We made it back to Paris by nightfall capping off a wonderful weekend in the North of France.
I have to say, most of France is a lot more spectacular than Paris. Paris is a typical city speckled with some beautiful tourist sites (Sacre-Coeur, Eiffel tower, Notre Dame) but it has lost the french-flair. I can understand now why the french distinguish 'French' people from 'Parisiens'.
The remainder of our trip was catching up with my parents university friends and family in Paris, and taking them around to some of the sites (the Louvre, Montmartre, Place de Clichy, Chinatown). Sadly, I still have yet to see Versailles!!
After a couple of days in Paris, my parents and I bid farewell and returned to London (5/10/05). The following morning I accompanied them to Heathrow and saw them off at the airport. It was a little sad to see them go - I was starting to get used to their company.
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