Surfing The Web: Kissing Fanny, Ten U.S. Hikes, 32 Toronto Tips, Adelaide History

Say, What? The Art of Kissing Fanny!

One of my favourite blogs is the very eclectic Messy Nessy Chic. Vanessa, or ’Nessy’ as she refers to herself, is a young expat English woman now living in Paris. I don’t know how she does it, but her blog has one of the most interesting collections of stories and posts that I have ever encountered in my many years of trawling across the Internet. Every visit reveals a new gem that is sure to enlighten, amuse and entertain the reader.

A recent post; The Art of Kissing Fanny has to be read to be believed. It just goes to prove that there is a story behind everything—no matter how arcane or obscure.

There’s a curious expression used in Provence by pétanque players. “Embrasser Fanny” or to “kiss Fanny”, is a small recompense for making a fool of oneself to put it simply. But where does this mischievous phrase originate from? Fanny was a waitress at a local café in the Savoie region or Lyon– no one seems to agree. Watching the men playing pétanque (or boules) one day, she declared that she would allow any man who lost 13-0 in pétanque, to kiss her on the cheek.

Read the full article here...

Mount Katahdin. Photo: Alamy

Ten of The Best US Hiking Trails

Once, dear reader, I fantasized about walking across America, a ridiculous idea if ever I had one, if only because I was well into my late-50s when I was taken with the fantasy. Not that others haven't done exactly that before or since my imagination got the better of me. It's just that the cold hard reality of my aging bones have told me loud and clear, that "It ain't gonna happen, buddy!" Not in this lifetime, anyway. Still, I can dream, can't I? And this is as good a place as any to keep feeding that dream.

From a rocky wonderland with views of Las Vegas to the green ridges of the Appalachians, readers of the British newspaper, The Guardian share their favourite great walks. Among those recommended are walks through the New England mountains, Vermont’s 272 mile Long Trail, New Mexico’s Pecos Wilderness trails, and the Continental Divide Trail which runs through five states from New Mexico to Montana.

Read the full article here…

Toronto skyline

The Solo Traveler: 32 Tips for an Affordable Toronto

Among the many email newsletter I subscribe to (the basis of a blog entry themselves), is the very fine and comprehensive Solo Traveler site. The Canadian writer, Janis Waugh writes in her bio that she “…became a widow and empty-nester at about the same time.” In 2009, she began Solo Traveler and the site has quickly become one of the most popular sites for information and tips specifically aimed at people who travel solo—of which I am one. Of course, the information on the site is just as useful for couples, and families.

Completely at random, I have chosen to highlight the article, Affordable Toronto: 32 Free and Low-Cost Tips from her site, but seriously, take some time to browse through the hundreds of excellent feature articles awaiting you. There is surely something for everyone here.

Read the full article here…

Source: State Library of SA Searcy Collection RG 280/1/7/418

Then and Now: Eleven Rare Historic Photos of Adelaide

Since I was born and raised—and still live—in Adelaide, Australia, I thought these rare images from local history may be of interest. Besides, May is History Month in South Australia, so that is as good a reason as any to include this article. Among the images is the one I chose to illustrate this section, which shows two nurses, or “ministering angels” from approximately the year 1913 caring for two babies at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital (now renamed The Women's and Children’s Hospital).

I selected this image for a specific reason—namely, because I spent 14 years of my working life at the Children’s Hospital (as it was still called then), and despite the pain and suffering I saw there, those 14 years were among the most rewarding years of my life. As an aside, I have been fortunate enough to have only been admitted to hospital once in my 68 years—at the very same Adelaide Children’s Hospital—when I was admitted, at the age of five, to have my tonsils removed, an incident I still remember to this day.

Read the full article here…

P.S. I should also stress that apart from the 'pain and suffering', I also witnessed many moments that bordered on the miraculous, many of which were carried out by new generations of 'ministering angels', and medical personnel.

Mona Lisa Crush

Why do we do it? Is it because of the clever marketing? The fact that the portrait is the work of Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest artists of all time? The enigmatic smile, perhaps? Or because if you are visiting the Louvre in Paris, the visit would be incomplete without going to see the Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo (to give the portrait its full title)?

I read somewhere that it has been estimated that most visitors lining up to see the Mona Lisa spend as little as 15 seconds in front of the painting. Fifteen seconds! I don’t know if there is any truth to that claim, but certainly virtually no-one has time to linger more than a few minutes before her. The crush of bodies, the raised cameras, the ridiculous selfie poses struck by gawking teenagers and adults who should know better, and the constant attention and wariness of security guards, all combine to make any visit to the Mona Lisa one of the least enjoyable experiences of any trip to the Louvre.

Besides, the painting is hardly on the grand size. At just 77 cm by 53 cm (30 inches by 21 inches), Leonardo da Vinci’s masterwork is dwarfed by just about every other work of art inside the Louvre. This also makes the possibility of examining the painting closely a pretty much hopeless task—not that you can get that close to it anyway.

When I visited at the beginning of winter in December 2010, the lines to room 6, on the first floor of the Denon wing were thankfully short and the crowds almost thin. I hate to think what the queues must be like during July and August, the peak European tourist season.

If you really must go to see the Mona Lisa during your Parisian holiday, don’t be surprised if you come away from the experience disappointed by the whole circus surrounding this one painting. Instead, make up for any disappointment you feel by immersing yourself in the hundreds (in fact, thousands) of other fabulous art works to be seen and enjoyed, up close and at leisure in the same room and throughout the museum.

Once you have had your glimpse of Señora Gherardini, turn around and stand in awe, as I did, before a work of such monumental proportions that it is impossible not to be impressed by the size and scope of the work. This is Paolo Veronese’s, ‘The Wedding Feast at Cana’.

Where the Mona Lisa is 77cm x 53cm (30in x 21in), Veronese’s ‘Wedding Feast…’ is a massive 6.77 metres by 9.94 metres—or 22.2 feet high, and 32.6 feet long!

Click this link for full screen view of Wedding Feast at Cana... and make sure you use your mouse to zoom in for close up look at this masterpiece. 

Now here is a painting you can get lost in. Here is a work that demands the viewer stop, contemplate, examine, and marvel at Veronese’s vision. This is the work of a true master. Every wedding guest and attendant seems to have their own story to tell, with each either caught mid-sentence or in the act of performing some task (pouring wine, playing instruments, or serving guests). Even the gawkers hanging on to the columns of nearby building or crowding the balconies are filled with life and movement.

For my money, any number of other paintings at the Louvre are far more worthy of closer attention than Leonardo's Mona Lisa, and the placement of Veronese's monumental work on the wall directly opposite her, feels like a deliberate attempt by that institution's curators to show the thousands of daily visitors that there are other masterpieces in the building that are arguably more deserving of their attention.

Luxembourg Palace & Garden, Paris, France

View of the Luxembourg Palace and main fountain and boat pond.

The Luxembourg Palace is located at 15 rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built between 1615 and 1645 to be the royal residence of the regent Marie de Médicis, mother of Louis XIII of France. After the Revolution it was refashioned into a legislative building between 1835-1836 it was enlarged and remodeled. Since 1958 it has been the seat of the French Senate of the Fifth Republic. On the south side of the palace, the formal Luxembourg Garden presents a 25-hectare green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and large basins of water where children sail model boats, some of which can be seen in the video below. Source: Wikipedia.

View overlooking the main fountain and central garden

Like many of the other magnificent buildings and palaces around Paris, and indeed elsewhere in France, one can only marvel at the amount of planning, money, labor, and resources that must have gone into erecting this massive palace, and into landscaping and maintaining the stunning gardens on which the palace and other buildings stand.

Today, the palace building is the home of the French senate. During my brief three of four hour visit to the palace grounds, I did not enter the main building itself. In fact, I'm not even sure if the building is open to the general public. However, the beautifully maintained gardens are open, and during my outing they were well patronized by locals and international visitors alike. There is much to see around the grounds including a series of statues of former French queens, saints and reproductions of classical Antiques.

L'acteur Grec (The Greek Actor), by Arthur Bourgeois (1838-1886)

You can wander through an orchard of apple and pear trees, enjoy a performance of the théâtre des marionnettes (puppet theatre), ride on a vintage carousel, enjoy one of the many free musical performances scheduled throughout the summer months, and visit the Orangerie with its displays of art, photography, and numerous sculptures. The grounds of the garden also contain more than one hundred statues, monuments, and fountains scattered throughout the 25-hectares (61 acres), including Frédéric Bartholdi’s first 1870 model for the Statue of Liberty.

Here's a short video compilation of photographs and video footage I put together of my visit:

More Information

Official Luxembourg Palace…

Luxembourg Palace...

Luxembourg Garden...

A Year In Paris and New York City

Today I turn 66, (Happy Birthday, Jim).

I am spending the day preparing for a house sitting stint for a home owner heading to Europe for the next six weeks. While she is away, I will house sit and care for her home and much loved feline companion. Two days after the owner returns, I will begin house sitting another home―this time for a period of almost three months. This house sit includes a very active dog that loves to chase balls and run on the nearby beach. Both these homes are within thirty to forty minutes of the apartment I live in.

So why am I house sitting for the next four to five months when I have a perfectly good place of my own to stay in and look after? Because from time to time I like to get out of my comfort zone. Because I want to challenge myself. To remind myself that despite my 66 years, there is still ‘life in the old boy, yet’. And because I want to show my friends, my family, my nephews and nieces, and anyone else who feels stuck in a rut, or afraid of trying something different, that they can challenge themselves at any age to break out of their own particular comfort zones, and try something different.

During the 1970s, I spent five and a half years living and working in London. Each summer I would head into Europe and generally end up in Greece where I have extended family (my parents were Greek). Little did I think, after I returned to Australia in September 1976, that 32 years would pass before I would once again venture away from Australian shores.

Thirty-two years!

Now I am making up for lost travel time. I have travelled to Europe and/or America every two years since 2008, and I am not done yet.

At the end of August, I returned from my latest trip―a four month extended stay in Greece and Paris―infused and excited by the idea of again spending a year living in one of the worlds great capitals. While I was in Paris, the thought occurred to me that I was free to spend the rest of my life pretty much anywhere I chose to live. It might be Adelaide, my home town, or it might be Paris, London, New York City, Berlin, or somewhere else.

Since this idea hit me in Paris, the ‘City of Lights’ was my first choice. Now that I have had time to think about it, I am still excited by the challenge and prospect of living there. I am also exploring the possibility of spending a year in New York City. Having been to New York three times, I would dearly love to spend a whole year there. Even though I have already spent a total of almost five months visiting New York City, I am not done with that most amazing and exciting of cities by a long shot.

Heck. Why not spend a year in Paris and New York City?

Why not, indeed?

Of course, not everyone has the luxury of being retired, and even those of us who are, don’t always have the freedom to pull up stakes and move away from hearth and home for twelve months. Or for greater or lesser periods. However, I firmly believe that we all have many choices available to us throughout our lives, and that we can choose to take the easy way, the comfortable way, the safe way, or we can choose the way ‘less travelled’.

After the idea to spend a year living in Paris or New York City fired my imagination, I wrote in my travel journal:

Life is short.

The clock is ticking.

If not now

―when?

So do it now.

Love The Life You Live

            ―or Change It.

At sixty-six years of age, life does indeed seem short, and the clock is definitely ticking. It may take me another year before I finally sort out all the details for my yearlong Parisian or New York sabbatical, but I am working on it. I’m working on it. Watch this space.

The Cost of Four Months Travel

Parisian river scene

 I recently returned from an almost four month extended vacation spent mostly in Greece, but with a two week side trip to Paris, France. As near is I can calculate it, my total costs for this trip were just under $7,000 (Australian dollars). Incredibly, this figure is pretty much what I would have spent if I had stayed at home in Adelaide, Australia.

By way of explanation: Transport includes all public transport (taxis, buses, trains), excluding ferries and flights; Eats includes meals out and snacks; Groceries includes purchases made at local supermarkets in Greece and Paris; Recreation includes visits to museums, galleries and other landmarks. It also includes shared family meals which I hosted and paid for; Other includes purchases that did not fit neatly into other categories. Finally, Bank Fees on overseas purchases and ATM withdrawals have all been lumped into this category. Here is a breakdown of my trip expenses (figures in Australian dollars):

Accommodations             $1526.40

- AirBnB, Paris         $779.00 (10 nights)

- Palace Hotel           $270.50 (4 nights)

- Delfini Hotel          $476.90 (10 nights)

Tower of St. Jacques, Paris, France

Flights                              $2013.97

- Emirates                 $1619.91

- Air France              $394.06

Ferries                             $225.00

Transport                        $127.37

- Greece                  $46.02

- Paris                     $81.35

Eats                                 $697.92

- Greece                  $390.27

- Paris                     $307.65

Groceries                       $552.39

- Greece                  $481.89

- Paris                     $70.50

Shopping                       $536.50

Recreation                    $762.64

- Greece                  $644.79

- Paris                     $117.85

Other                            $386.95

- Global Rorting      $18.22

Bank Fees                    $154.15         

===========================

TOTAL:                       $6983.29

===========================

Clearly, some of the costs in the above breakdown overlap with other categories. For example, I could have added bank fees (Currency Conversion Fees, etc) to their associated purchases, but I liked the idea of separating these costs out from everything else. Also, my hosting and paying for several family gatherings at restaurants could have gone into the Eats category, but I saw these as separate from meals and snacks I bought just for myself.

‘Global Rorting’ is my not so tongue in cheek name for Global Roaming fees imposed by all telecoms providers on travellers using their mobile phones outside of their home networks. Travel blogs and websites are full of horror stories about people who have returned home to find massive phone bills waiting for them, because they used their phones while travelling.

I got around this potential problem (just $18.22) by using Skype as much as possible, and by using my phone only when I absolutely had to. As soon as I had used my phone to make a call, I would turn off Global Roaming to ensure there was no chance of incurring costs and charges I was not prepared for. If you don’t have Skype installed on your smartphone or tablet device do so at the earliest opportunity. Calls to other Skype users are free―even if those users are on the other side of the planet. And calling people who are not Skype users incurs a fee that is a fraction of what your phone company charges, so do yourself a favor and install it now. Even the app is free.

Statue of Apollo, Versailles, France

An additional word or two about the Accommodations and Groceries expenses may be in order. Firstly, Accommodations. Clearly, since I only paid for a total of 24 nights in hotels, I must have had other sleeping arrangements in place for my remaining three months, and in deed I did.

I am lucky enough to have extensive family connections in Greece where two sisters and their extended families now live. Hence, I was able to share my time between both sisters at no cost in terms of accommodation. However, I did of course contribute financially in other ways while staying with family, either by hosting and paying for the already mentioned family gatherings, or by paying for petrol, groceries (other than my own), and for a new digital television and computer desk for family members (both Shopping expenses), and for other items.

As for Groceries: For most of my time in Greece and Paris, I lived in accommodations that enabled me to cook my own meals, thereby saving me a small fortune by not having to eat out at restaurants and cafés all the time. To clarify, most of my stay in Greece was spent in a self-contained studio apartment owned by family members for which I paid no rent, which obviously kept my accommodation costs to a minimum. A good example of how costs can add up quickly can be seen by comparing the Eats figures. I spent almost as much in Paris ($307.65) over two weeks as I did during 14-15 weeks in Greece ($390.27).

Of course, not all travellers have the luxury of free accommodation available to them when they travel, so I am extremely grateful to my sisters and their families for making my stay not only affordable, but the absolute delight it turned out to be.

Hey, Pablo, What’s In A Name?

I quite like how the French don’t just give you street names, but also include information about the people the streets are named for. For example Avenue De Camoens, is named for the Portuguese poet Luis De Camoes, whose monument stands on the street bearing his name.

I can't explain why the street name includes the letter 'n' in his name, while the monument does not (maybe it is a grammatical thing), and neither do I know why the French have honoured De Camoes in this way, but then why not?

According to Wikipedia Luís Vaz de Camões is considered Portugal's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads), and the influence of this work is so profound that Portuguese is called the "language of Camões." As if that is not honor enough, June 10, the day of his death, is Portugal's national day.

Meanwhile, the Quai Louis Bleriot (below) honors the French aviator by that name who was the first to fly a plane across the English Channel in 1909, thereby winning a monetary prize of one thousand pounds put up by the England’s Daily Mail.

Rue Degas (below), is named for Edgar Degas (19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917). Degas was a French artist famous for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. He is especially identified with the subject of dance, with more than half of his works depict dancers. He is also regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, although he rejected the term, preferring to be called a realist.

Antoine Dubois was a French surgeon (chirurgien) whose main claim to fame seems to be that in 1811 he was given the responsibility of delivering the child of the Empress Marie-Louise. Following the successful birth of Napoleon II, the Empress's baby, Dubois was given the title of "baron". He is also credited with making improvement to a number of surgical instruments, including a forceps.

Finally, Rue des Grands Augustins is a street in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 6th arrondissement. It is said that Louis XIII received the sacrament in Rue des Grands Augustins, one hour after the assassination of his father Henry IV. A notable resident of the street was the artist Pablo Picasso who lived here from 1937 to 1948. It was here that Picasso painted one of his most famous and monumental works, Guernica.

So what's in a name? Many things. Most of us (including myself), pay little or no attention to street names. They are seen only as guides that help us get to homes and businesses, monuments and landmarks, restaurants and cafes, hair dressers and chemists, and many other destinations. Without them, it would be impossible to find our way through modern cities like Paris, London, New York City and a thousand others. Surely even modern aids such as online maps and GPS navigation systems would be useless without street names.

So take a few minutes now to think about the name of the street where you live. If your street is named after a person, look the name up and try and find out why this man or woman is being honored in this way. You might be surprised by what you learn.

Summer in Paris, France

For the past six days I have been on vacation in Paris from my vacation in Greece. That is to say, my two week side trip to the City of Lights, comes after the eleven weeks I have already spent on the Aegean Island, Ikaria.

It has been a real pleasure to renew my explorations of this wonderful city, in which every street must surely have an amazing history of its own. For now I will simply add some photographs of my wanderings around the city.

Above: Funeral monument at Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, and below, detail from the same sculpture.

Below: house boats line the banks of the River Seine.

I wonder if these can be hired for short term accommodation?

Paris In The Snow

Some people love Paris in spring, others in the hot, tourist crowded months of summer, and still more in the quieter, cooler weeks of autumn. Of course, I would be happy to see Paris during any of those seasons, but as it happens, on my return to the City of Lights―after an absence of more than 30 years―I went in the midst of a cold, windswept, snowy December. And I loved every minute of my ten days there. Well, almost every minute (see an earlier post One Ring to Scam Us All.

Living as I do in Adelaide, Australia’s ‘Athens of the South’, the only time I have ever seen snow in quantity was when I lived and worked in London during the early 1970s; again on one brief road trip through Australia’s Snowy Mountains (and that was well after the snow season had ended); and during my 2010 visit to Paris.

While I had no personal issues dealing with the cold and heavy snow falls, my camera certainly did. From time to time the mechanism would freeze up, and the lens would refuse to adjust its focal length which proved frustrating, especially when I was trying to capture images and video footage of interest. However, I was more than happy with most of the material I eventually got.

This very brief video and photo compilation documents several hours spent on the streets of Paris during that visit in 2010.

A Visit to The Eiffel Tower

I have been sitting on hours of video footage from my 2012 vacation for far too long, and since I am soon to embark on another extended journey, in which I will undoubtedly accumulate hours more video footage and thousands of photographs, I thought I’d put together a little film of my visit to the Eiffel Tower.

I have written about this trip already Notre Dame Cathedral, The Sound of Angels Singing and Viva Le Revolution!, and on several other entries so I won’t repeat myself today. Use the search box at top left to find these and other items relating to my travels. Anyway, since I had the footage, here―to the tune of Gypsy Dance by Topher Mohr and Alex Elena―is a look at my visit to the Eiffel Tower.

Apollo On Ice, Palace of Versailles, France

Apollo On Ice, Palace of Versailles

I must admit I was not prepared for the grandeur on display at the Palace of Versailles. The size, scale, and opulence of the place is quite overwhelming when seen for the first time.

Once the home to generations of Kings and Queens of France, the Palace of Versailles stands as a stark reminder of the many excesses of King Louis XIV (14th) in particular, and that of his heirs and successors. Excesses which became exposed for all to see with the onset of the French Revolution in 1789.

It’s not just the 700 rooms, the 6,000+ paintings, 1,500 drawings, and more than 15,000 engravings. Nor is it the sight of 2,100 sculptures and around 5,200 pieces of furniture and objets d’art, which overwhelms. No, it is all these and more. Including the 800 hectares of woodlands, landscaped gardens, fountains, Grand Canals, and many nooks and hidden corners, which surround the main Palace building. Then there are the Grand Trianon, Marie-Antoinette’s estate, numerous copses and groves, fountains and open-air salons, the King’s Garden, the Apollo Baths, the Ornamental Lake of The Dragon, and other locations large and small.

I walked around part of the massive Palace grounds on a freezing December day, with the snow crunching underfoot, a light mist clinging to the ground, and my warm breath hanging in the air.

I took many photographs that day under a dark, grey sky, and the image I’ve selected for this post captures that setting very well. In the image we see the Sun god Apollo, mounted on his chariot, emerging from the frozen waters of the Apollo Fountain (located in the Grand Canal). The horses themselves seem to be springing out of the icy water, following close on the heels of the bugler leading them.

The work of Tuby, after a drawing by the French artist, Le Brun, this monumental sculpture was designed and cast between 1668 and 1670, then transported to Versailles and installed and gilded the following year.

Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, France

I visited the Musée de l’Orangerie, in Paris during my stay in the ‘City of Lights’, in December 2010. The Museum is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings, located on the banks of the Seine in the old orangery of the Tuileries Palace, on the Place de la Concorde near the Concorde metro station.

I first encountered two of Monet’s magnificent Water Lily masterpieces when visiting the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Although I had seen photographs of some of these paintings often enough, nothing prepared me for the sheer joy I experienced standing before these masterpieces of shadow, light and colour.

Claude Monet was born on 14 November 1840 on the fifth floor of 45, rue Laffitte, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature. The term Impressionism, is derived from the title of his painting: Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant).

Beginning in the 1880s and 1890s through the end of his life in 1926, Monet worked on several "series" paintings, in which his subject matter was depicted in varying light and weather conditions. Using his own gardens (with their water lilies, pond, and bridge as inspiration), Monet’s Water Lilies date from this period.

In 1922, Claude Monet signed a contract donating the Nymphéas series of decorative panels to the French government. With input from Monet, the Nymphéas were arranged on the ground floor of the Orangerie in 1927. The eight paintings are displayed in two oval rooms, and are viewed under direct diffused light as was originally intended by Monet.

In what I can only assume is a very unconventional method of mounting the paintings, the eight massive canvases have been glued directly to the walls.

Monet died of lung cancer on 5 December 1926 at the age of 86, and is buried in the Giverny church cemetery. His home, garden and water lily pond were bequeathed by his son Michel, to the French Academy of Fine Arts in 1966. Through the Claude Monet Foundation, the house and gardens have been open for visits since 1980, and are a ‘must see’ for all devotees of Monet’s work.

According to the museum's website, the Orangerie was originally built in 1852 to shelter the orange trees of the garden of the Tuileries. Today, while it is most famous for being the permanent home for eight Water Lilies murals by Claude Monet, the Musée de l’Orangerie also contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Henri Rousseau among others.

Here is a brief look at some of those magnificent works of art:

More Information

Wikipedia... 

Musee de l'Orangerie... 

In Review: Palace Hotel, Paris

Palace Hotel, Rue Bouchardon

I stayed at the Palace Hotel during December 2010. Don’t be fooled by the name, though. As hotels go, this is basic at best, but for my money, the price couldn’t be beaten. I paid just €35/night – or €350 for a ten night stay in a budget hotel that was within easy walking distance of some of Paris’s most popular attractions. Oh, and don’t confuse this Palace Hotel with the much grander Golden Tulip Little Palace hotel nearby, where the same ten nights would have cost me €2,300 or more!

Given that it has been more than two years since my stay, I must stress that this review may be doing the hotel owners a great disservice, since any number of conditions may have changed during the intervening 28 months. However, I have read more recent reviews for the Palace Hotel, and judging from the comments left by other guests, it seems that little has in fact changed.

Room 5: At least the bed was comfortable

While writing this entry, I checked current room rates and to my amazement the prices are almost the same as they were in 2010. However, it is a well known truism that ‘You get what you pay for’, so I can’t stress enough that you get the absolute basics for this price: a wardrobe, small desk, bed, and bathroom. My room did not have the usual extras such as hair-dryer, television, refrigerator, air-conditioner, complimentary tea and coffee, free Continental breakfast, or much else in that regard.

The hotel does offer breakfast (baguettes, butter and jam, coffee, tea etc), but at an additional cost of €4.50 each day. WiFi was also available when I was there, but the signal was quite weak in my room, despite the fact that it was almost directly above the reception area.

Room 5: bathroom

I should also point out that some rooms do not have their own en-suite bathroom/shower, in which case guests must use shared facilities. These rooms are of course priced at lower rates than those with en-suites – currently €25-€30/night.

The hotel owners were friendly and despite their limited English (and my non-existent French), were always eager to help in any way they could to ensure my stay there was positive.

The neighbourhood around the hotel has many good local cafes and Boulangerie’s, as well as other low-cost shopping outlets. A brisk 30 minute walk will get you to the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, Les Halles, the Pompidou Centre, the Louvre and the Tuileries Garden. Even the famed Basilique du Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre can be reached on foot in less than 45 minutes.

Room 5: wardrobe and 'desk'

Would I stay at the Palace Hotel again? Most definitely. I think it would be hard to beat the current prices being asked at the hotel, and given its location, it still remains a great choice for visitors on a limited budget.

More Information

Palace Hotel,

9 Rue Bouchardon, 75010, Paris

Tel: 014 040 0945

Tel: 014 040 0946

Palace Hotel… ‎

Email: palace.hotel75010@gmail.com

Reflections From The Window Seat

Flying over the Alps to Paris, France

~ So when you travel, where do you prefer to sit: window, aisle or middle seat?

I am definitely a window seat traveller. When I take international flights, I prefer the window seat, not because I can spend most of the flight looking at the scenery from the window – at 30,000 feet, there is not a lot of scenery to see passing over the Pacific Ocean between Australia and North America.

No, I choose window seats because I can wedge myself up against the internal fuselage of the aircraft and get a reasonable amount of sleep without being disturbed by the comings and goings of the other passengers sharing my seating section. The ability to look at the landscape once the plane is passing over areas of country is an added bonus

Gulf Coast from Greyhound Bus window

When travelling by bus or train, I again choose window seats. I am not one of those travellers who bury their head in a book or digital device, or who try to blot out my surroundings by listening to music through a pair of tiny ear buds.

I spend most of the trip looking out the window at the passing parade of small towns and villages, with their pedestrians and local traffic; examining the local architecture, both civic and private; and trying get an understanding (no matter how brief and fleeting) of the lives and loves of the local population.

How about you. Where do you prefer to sit, and why? Feel free to share your opinions and thoughts via the Comments section below.

Friday Fotos – Paris, December 2010

My recent viewing of Woody Allen’s latest film, Midnight in Paris, made me nostalgic for that wonderful city, and had me reminiscing about my visit there last December (2010). So today, I am featuring a bunch of images from that trip, and links to relevant posts about my visit.

A view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. See my previous entries: The Eiffel Tower: A Promise Kept, and Top of The Tower Views.

The Statue of Apollo in the Grand Canal at Versailles, breaking through the encroaching ice on a cold December day in 2010. My trip to Versailles on a frosty winter's day was one of many highlights of my stay in the French capital.

I wrote about my visit to the Palace of Versailles in two posts: Viva La Revolution! and Palace of Versailles Gardens.

Above: Notre-Dame Cathedral. You don't have to be Catholic or even religious to appreciate the grandeur of Notre-Dame Cathedral, but it probably helps. Even so, I am neither, but that didn't stop me from visiting Notre-Dame several times during my 10 night stay in Paris (see Notre-Dame Cathedral).

To my delight, my visit coincided with an evening choral performance that I wrote about here: The Sound of Angels Singing. Given my previous comment about being neither Catholic nor religious, I may be coming across as confused and contradictory, but such was the power of the setting and the music, that I am happy to plead "Guilty as charged, you honor."

Above and below: No trip to Paris would be complete without at least one stroll through parts of the magnificent Jardin des Tuileries (or Tuileries Garden), which I wrote about here Jardin des Tuileries, Paris. As you can see from the ice covered table below, there was plenty of snow about, and despite the cold and the snow, I loved Paris in December.

Come to think of it - it was because of the snow and the cold that I loved Paris so much. The heat and the crowds of summer were long gone, making the queues shorter, the Metro less crowded, and the weather perfect for extended walks around the city.

Well that will do for now. If you haven’t done so, I can highly recommend Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, if for nothing else than the stunning scenery of the City of Lights. But as I indicated in my review, the film is thoroughly enjoyable in its own right, and I’m sure you won’t leave disappointed.

In Review: Midnight in Paris

I have a terrible admission to make.

Until I saw Woody Allen’s latest flick, Midnight in Paris last night, I can’t remember going to see a Woody Allen movie in over 20 years. Twenty years! Why? What happened? Even I don’t rightly know.

I always enjoyed his early career as a writer, actor and film director, but for some reason I can no longer remember, I lost interest. Or maybe I just became more interested in the work of directors like Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, the Coen Brothers, David Lynch, and one or two others.

I’m kicking myself now. Kicking myself, because I thoroughly enjoyed Midnight in Paris right from the opening montage of images that showed the ‘city of lights’ in all its stunning beauty. And kicking myself because I am sure I have missed any number of other excellent Woody Allen films over the past 20 years or so.

Still, there’s no point berating myself too much. Looking on the bright side, I’ve got at least two decades of catching up to do, as I program my personal Woody Allen retrospective in the coming months, and uncover more ‘lost’ gems from his film making oeuvre. But enough of the self abuse – on to Allen’s latest offering.

Part romantic comedy, and part fantasy, Midnight in Paris tells the story of Gil (Owen Wilson), a successful Hollywood screenwriter who is having problems finishing off his first novel. With his fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams), he travels to Paris with Inez’s rich, conservative parents, and understandably falls in love with the city. Unfortunately, Inez and her parents are less than enthusiastic, especially when Gil declares that he would love to live and work in Paris. Inez on the other hand, is apparently looking forward to married life in Malibu!

Gil believes that Paris’s golden age was the 1920s. An era that saw some of the greatest writers and painters of the twentieth century (both American and European), make Paris their home. At the end of a drunken night out with Inez, her ex-boyfriend Paul (Michael Sheen), and his wife Carol (Nina Arianda), Gil decides to walk the streets of Paris to clear his head. As a clock chimes the midnight hour, Gil is literally transported back in time to a party set in 1920s Paris, at which a host of famous writers and artists from that period are present.

Over a period of four or five nights, Gil meets Cole Porter, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, Dali, Hemingway, and many more writers, painters, dancers, artist’s models, as well as other luminaries of the age.

- o0o -

I could write a lot more about the plot, but if you have yet to see the film, I don’t want to spoil the enjoyment I am sure you will get from it, by giving away too many plot points or quoting directly from the script.

As you might expect, Woody Allen has great eye for settings, and it has been years since I have seen Paris shown off to such great advantage in a movie. I was in Paris myself just over a year ago, and it was a delight to see scenes set in many of the places I myself visited during my stay. Places like the Louvre, the Palace of Versailles, the Musée de l’Orangerie (for a lovely scene involving Monet’s Water Lilies), Notre-Dame Cathedral, the famed Shakespeare and Company bookshop, the River Seine, and many others.

I thought every performance in Midnight in Paris, was spot on. Even from those actors with not much more than walk on parts. The dialog was sharp, witty, insightful, and the transitions between the present and the 1920s seamless. I spent the whole 90 minutes with a big smile on my face, and I left the cinema wishing that Woody Allen could have added another 30 minutes to the overall length of the film.

If you are into classic literature, art and cinema, there is much to delight and entertain you in Midnight in Paris. Apart from the great settings, and the excellent acting, you should have fun picking up the numerous artistic and cultural references Woody Allen sneaks in to his film.

My highest accolade? I enjoyed Midnight in Paris so much I intend to go back and see it again, before it disappears from the big screen. Not only that, but this is one movie I will definitely buy when it is released here on DVD – and for me that is always my biggest stamp of approval.

Highly recommended.

Monday Movie: HDR Skies

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French photographer Tanguy Louvigny created the time-lapse film embedded below of Normandy and Brittany using High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging techniques. As you can see from the screen grab above, the footage – and the countryside – looks absolutely stunning, and Louvigny has generously made the above image, and half-a-dozen others, available for download as wallpapers for your computer desktop.

Films like this sometimes make me wonder if there is any point travelling to see the regions depicted in these homemade films for myself. After all, one would have to sit – in some instances – for hours to observe the same scenes. On the other hand, watching videos like the one here can lead to a growing sense of frustration knowing that life is too short, and no matter how much money you have, you will never have enough time to see all the beautiful places on this small blue planet.

Ultimately, more than anything else, these videos stir the wanderlust in me, and regardless of money or time, I am left counting down the months, weeks and days until my next journey.

For more information regarding how Louvigny creates his films, and the gear he uses, go to his website and Vimeo page.

Thanks to Open Culture for the heads up on this video and Louvigny’s delightful film.

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Hdr skies from Tanguy Louvigny on Vimeo.

Make sure you view the video at full size to see the footage at its best.