For the final day in Paris, I managed to convince Barb that we should go up the Eiffel Tower for a look- the signs advised that the top may be crowded so the second level was as high as we went. However, even at this level, the views were amazing. As expected, you have to wait a bit to get through the queues but it's certainly worth it when you get through.
Next was a look inside the Madeleine church that we'd seen on the bus trip a couple of days earlier. Again, the scale of everything is so incredibly large it's hard to illustrate with the photos. It's easy to see why these buildings have taken hundreds of years to complete.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at two designer super stores - Printemps and Galleries Lafayette - both take a couple of blocks each and are six stories high. The one that is really impressive - aside from what it sells - is the Gallerie Lafayette. You'll see from the photo that it looks nothing like we would expect a department store to look. Barb found a very Parisian raincoat and I convinced her to treat herself. Lucky she did, because it started to rain while we were heading back to the hotel to collect the bags and also as we had made our way to the station to catch the train to Venice - handy AND very stylish!
The trip to Venice was comfortable - I wasn't expecting to get much sleep on the train but we've both managed to get a good nights rest. We had a three course meal in the dining car last night and we were served breakfast in our compartment this morning - I think we could get quite used to travelling first class! Unfortunately, that was the only part of the whole trip that we're not travelling cattle class. Oh well, we enjoyed it while it lasted.
So it's au revoir to Paris and buon giorno to Venice. We have had a very, very hot day today walking around Venice. The walking tour that we did gave us a really interesting glimpse into the history and idealism of the origins of Venice. In NZ, we think of ostentatious wealth as a big house and fancy car. In old Europe it means a palace and statues of yourself in public squares!
Unfortunately, Barb's head cold has reappeared, but after a lie down this afternoon in our (thankfully) air conditioned room she was good to go again and we headed off to a cafe just off San Marco piazza for dinner. Really lovely but, even in these smaller cafes, really expensive.
We have a day wandering Venice tomorrow and will post some Venice photos tomorrow evening.
Ciao!
Next was a look inside the Madeleine church that we'd seen on the bus trip a couple of days earlier. Again, the scale of everything is so incredibly large it's hard to illustrate with the photos. It's easy to see why these buildings have taken hundreds of years to complete.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at two designer super stores - Printemps and Galleries Lafayette - both take a couple of blocks each and are six stories high. The one that is really impressive - aside from what it sells - is the Gallerie Lafayette. You'll see from the photo that it looks nothing like we would expect a department store to look. Barb found a very Parisian raincoat and I convinced her to treat herself. Lucky she did, because it started to rain while we were heading back to the hotel to collect the bags and also as we had made our way to the station to catch the train to Venice - handy AND very stylish!
The trip to Venice was comfortable - I wasn't expecting to get much sleep on the train but we've both managed to get a good nights rest. We had a three course meal in the dining car last night and we were served breakfast in our compartment this morning - I think we could get quite used to travelling first class! Unfortunately, that was the only part of the whole trip that we're not travelling cattle class. Oh well, we enjoyed it while it lasted.
So it's au revoir to Paris and buon giorno to Venice. We have had a very, very hot day today walking around Venice. The walking tour that we did gave us a really interesting glimpse into the history and idealism of the origins of Venice. In NZ, we think of ostentatious wealth as a big house and fancy car. In old Europe it means a palace and statues of yourself in public squares!
Unfortunately, Barb's head cold has reappeared, but after a lie down this afternoon in our (thankfully) air conditioned room she was good to go again and we headed off to a cafe just off San Marco piazza for dinner. Really lovely but, even in these smaller cafes, really expensive.
We have a day wandering Venice tomorrow and will post some Venice photos tomorrow evening.
Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment