April 16th 2014: Day 2 Paris

This was one of Picasso's frequent stops just to give you an idea of how awesome my day was!

Paris is so nice I hope finals are going well
The second day in Paris brought beautiful weather and since it called for rain later in the week I chose to do more neighbourhood walks rather than spend the day in doors and have to potentially trudge through the rain another day. So I set outfor the wonderfully beautiful and horrifyingly touristy Montmartre where the great painters of the 20s had their stomping ground and many painters go today on order to pick up any inspirations the greats may have left behind. I began at the famous Moulin Rouge immortalized by Toulouse Letrec and more recently Nicole Kidman, and ended up at the Sacre Cœur which sits as the highest point of land in Paris! Hills and stairs my friends, many many hills and stairs, I earned my indulgences that day!  By the way I dunno how I turned this blue or how to change it back! 

The graveyard in Montmartre is very cool this is Alexander Dumas Fils! I took a lot of photos I'll maybe put them all on Facebook instead of here. I could have spent a lot more time here than I did. I think I found Degas as well by this was harder to distinguish than Dumas. There was also this evil satanic cat there and anyone who knows me will tell you that if I think a cat is evil it really must be true as I adore cats! 

After the amazing view from the Sacre Cœur I headed off to The Marais, the old Jewish Quarter which is now I'm told the heart of the cities Gay and Lesbian Community! There my first stop was the House of Victor Hugo, a brilliant museum much ignored by the "must see" lists of Paris. 

After that I was hurtin for some lunch considering it was well past. (Although I did get candied nuts from a man at the Sacre Cœur) so as anyone knows The Marais is one of the best places in the world for Falafel and is a must but fair warning if you love Falafel because no other falafel will ever be good enough for you again after this. Rue des Rosiers is the must see market street and the place where Falafels are to be got. 

Yum yum yum and totally Vegan, although non-Vegan versions are more than available. 

After this delicious an unforgettable meal (which I had two of) it was time to finish the Marais district walk which was one of my favorite neighbourhoods for sure and than I finished off the evening at the Pompidou Centre! A brilliant flash of Modernity in the heart of an ancient city! Magnificent! 

Picasso's Guitarist 

And thus concluded a very full very long and very, very beautiful second day in Paris. 

Paris Day 1: April 15th 2014

My first full day here in Paris was a full one! I ended up with an excellent itinerary this whole trip which was easily adjusted according to the weather and didn't involve and back tracking or hoping on and off the metro all across Paris. I made sure what I did for a day was relatively accessible to eachother an it really worked out well for me. Being Vegan I thought it may be best to look up places to eat ahead of time and so I coordinated dinner locations that were convenient for my daily itinerary. I ate very well as a result and most definatley over indulged. The first thing I did my first morning was to hop on the metro and head down towards Museé d'Orsay with a quick stop at the love lock bridge. 

Not being in love at the moment I did not leave a lock. FYI.

The Museé d'Orsay was brilliant although it quickly taught me the importance of getting up before anything opens to beat the line ups. An hour and a half later I finally got in and it was worth the wait! I can't possibly pick a favorite, Cezanne always holds a special place in my heart, and I found a new love in the works of Pissaro. I also saw the first of many waterlillies by Monet which I would later complete the pilgrimage to giverny to make it all come together.

After my museum adventures with the Impressionists I utilized the worlds greatest iPhone app Happy Cow to find a vegitarian resturaunt called Veggie just around the corner from the museum and had a delicious veggie sauté with quinoa at the time I thought it was amazing but I would later discover that dish had nothing on the resturaunts I had lined up to come. 

After lunch I did the touristy neighbourhood walks of St. Germain and the Latin Quarter. Must do's if your a tourist but the locals stay clear. The good thing is if French speaking doesn't come easily to you have no fear here, they all speak English. This walk ended up taking me to many designer stored where I immediatly began unloading my wallet. The sites were good to including many major tourist stop offs and my personal favorite The Shakespeare and Company Bopkstore. 

I ended up buying two books, I mean how could you not. I chose Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame the novel which famously prevented the distruction of on of Paris' most iconic buildings, and Earnest Hemmingway's Immovable Feast. Both seemed very fitting considering where I was. True literary lovers will understand and those that don't do not deserve to. I chose not to buy and Shakespeare based on the fact that at home I have two complete sets of his plays and sonnets. 

For supper I headed around the corner to  Notre Dame du Garnier another small vegetarian resturaunt with plenty of clearly labelled vegan options. 

I had a Cassoullette which is basically a casserole and an apple tarte both to die for but still not the best meal I had. 

After my nice warm dinner I heade out to the chilled evening air for my long wait to get up to te top of the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing, but also freezing and I had to buy an overly priced Paris touristy sweater to survive. 

And with frozen bones and tired feet that concluded my first full day in Paris! 

Paris, France 14th of April 2014

So I haven't been posting the last several days as I have been keeping myself very busy! I will be slowly playing catch up on my blog over the next couple days! Paris is amazing, tomorrow will be my last day and I feel like a have barely cracked the surface of this beautiful city! There is endless amounts of things to see and do! My very first day was the 14th, I took the metro to my hostel The Loft in Bellville area and discarded my things before heading down to the Arc de Triumph to begin my Paris excursion! From there I chose to spend my first evening walking along the Seinne gazing on the historic landmarks and Sparkling evening city banks. I would later regret my choice to walk so much my very first evening as my feet have not been able to catch up on rest since everything has been go go go since. 

 

Friday, April 11th 2014: Carcassonne

Bonjour!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking my first european train ride from Gare de Limoux to Gare de Carcassonne. I left right after work so was able to spend the afternoon in La Cité. My real reason for going was to find out how the train works so that on Monday when I leave to the Toulouse Airport to get to Paris I wont get lost or take the wrong train. However, spending the afternoon in the old town of Carcassonne was a big bonus since I've been dying to get there since first arriving in Limoux. Carcassonne is a fascinating city and very close to where I currently live, only about 22km. It has a small airport (which I leave from to get to London on the 23rd of this month) and is made up of a "modern town" (last 400-500 years or so) and La Cité or the old town which is the fortified castle city, similar in many respects to Old Quebec if you've ever been, but of course much much older. La Cité de Carcassonne's first stone wall was laid in the first century AD. Over time the city was a major political edge in terms of war and defences. Throughout the middle ages the city began to grow and be developed right through the Cathar reigns in Southern France. After the Crusade which forced all the Albegensians out of their home. The city was even further fortified and eventually given to the King of France. It was throughout this time a second line of defences had been built including a moat and an outer wall. The city was so well defended it was considered impenetrable. Finally when Languedoc region was officially given to France and no longer split between Spain the city lost its militaristic and political edge and quickly was allowed to fall into decay.  By the 1800s the "modern city" was growing and an Architect by the name of Le-Duc made it his life's work to restore La Comtal de Carcassonne. Most of the archives were lost in fires throughout the cities long history and so much of his work was based on old stories, a few paintings and much deductive reasoning based on his knowledge of the middle ages and of architecture. He chose to restore the Castle city after one time period that of the King of France Louis (one of the many, I forget which number) so it is safe to say the the city is not likely the perfect image of what it once was but more modern science now suggests Le-Duc was very close. Much of the city will always remain a mystery to archeologist and historians. It is an amazing site and I recommend it to any one in the area, I am told one must also spend time in the "Modern City" which I have yet to do. Comtal is very touristy but early April makes for a really good time to go as the weather is nice but there aren't too many vacationers yet, mostly just children's school groups. 

These slits in the wall were for the archers to shoot arrows out of this one is on the outer wall

This is the gate to the Comtal

Originally this was a bridge over a moat for addd defences today the moat is drained and the bridge is fixed but originally it was actually a timber draw bridge.

Those wooden shelters were actually pathways for the archers to protect the Comtal from

This is the smaller court yard

This church is actually in the place where another line of defences once stood but Le-Duc decided that it was more important for Carcassonne to have another church then to restore the final part of the castle and so he designed this. 

Another view of the smaller courtyard

This is one of the many "Murder Holes" in the towers along the wall during an attack it would have been used to hurl objects down at invaders. Usually rocks and not hot oil as most people might think as oil was to expensive to use that way.

These Frescos were likely painted by the first inhabitants of Carcassonne, the Romans.

This is the converted moat.