Rome

First night in Rome.

Photos:
1. Yoghurt and fruit at an ice-cream parlour. The restaurant we ate at was disappointing so we had our desert elsewhere.

2. The moon. As seen from the roof of our hotel. The iPhone flash is creating lots of stray light but you get the idea. It was hot even at night time so the roof was the best place to relax.

3. Panorama from the hotel roof. Rome is full of ruins so some are always in view wherever you are. We visited the main ruin centre earlier, but I can't share the photos from my camera until I get home.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

The Top of Europe

Views from the highest points in Europe. The highest train station in Europe is buried in the rock.

Ice "palace" (more like a tunnel than a palace), the north face of the Eiger, and of course, great views.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Central Paris

So I have just put Evangeline on the Eurostar to London, and I have a consolation lunch at the restaurant near by. It is one I have been to before with dad and Roger, if I remember correctly, Clare recommended it. Here is a poor photo of the place. 

They serve lasagne but this time salmon based. It is very interesting and comes with a salad that puts Evangeline's salad of yesterday to shame. Yesterday the salad was lettuce with salad cream, and with tomatoes only when these were requested. Today there was shredded carrot as well as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, and grilled mushroom and aubergine. Salad cream was optional with French dressing an alternative. I had both.

I note that there is a call by some in France for restaurants that serve frozen food to loose their right to be called a restaurant. So it was with a little satisfaction that I noted the delivery of fresh vegetables during my meal. The chef came out to inspect them before they were considered acceptable, but from where I sat they looked to be excellent quality.

I left the place and went for a walk down to the river. It's quite a way from the station, but I was soon passing a market that I had seen the entrance to many times. It looked small, but curiosity caused me to walk down the steps and into the market area. This is the middle of Paris, but the space opened up and was surprisingly wide. There were restaurants and sellers of all sorts, including many very fresh vegetables, and more exotic things like octopus tentacles.

Presumably the restaurant gets their produce from somewhere like this. I will be happy to return.

The walk at this point is off the tourist haunts so the shops are more interesting. So too are the people. I found myself walking behind a reasonably elegant middle-aged couple who were pushing a very rickety pushchair. The back wheels rocked from side to side as the lady pushing it walked along. I wondered what the child inside thought, if there was one, so I glanced back as I passed. There was a dog sitting up in the pushchair enjoying his walk and obviously very proud of himself for his control over his owners. Further down, the Rex cinema has a huge moving display in tall thin strips as you can see here. I am getting closer to tourist Paris.

Near the river the shops are tourist style and much more boring. I play "spot the tourist", although "spot the resident" is probably more challenging, and the "Paris plage" is operating. Imported sand allows Parisians to sun themselves by the Seine as if on the beach by the sea. There are zip-wires and slides for the kids and most of the beach space is taken. 

Summer has arrived. But for me it is time to go home. The only trouble is, that the station I want is closed so it is a bit further to walk than I thought!

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Mobility

I could not resist this. Perhaps it is just my sense of humour, and so perhaps you, my reader, will think differently; but here is a juxtaposition of things that made me laugh.

The shop offers mobility to people who need assistance. And a great service it must be too. But I am sure some would like the mobility suggested by the object parked in front of the shop, rather than the very pedestrian transport usually offered.

What do you think?

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Too big for home

It is a cold and wet morning. Each day as I catch the train I check on the pigeon chicks and for some days I have been expecting them to have gone.

Today they are huddled together against the cold. As far as I can see, all their "puppy feathers" are gone and they are ready to fly. But they don't seem to think so.

So they huddle in their cosy nest. Except that it is not cosy any more, just far too small. So now you can see the foundations that were their home as the nest itself has been pushed overboard by the outsized chicks.

Still, I would not want to venture out in this weather unless I had to!

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Signs of silly times

The red sign says
"The circulation of trains on the line 'C' is very disrupted following the
limitation of speed on the sections under repair until the end of the evening".

I hope you can see this sign. It was what greeted me on the platform today and it shows the next 4 trains all arriving in 1 minute. It was the same yesterday.

In fact it was several minutes before anything arrived. Since the only train I did not want had been cancelled, I took the first to arrive. After all, who could be sure the others hadn't gone?

So I am on the slow train home. But it does go home and I have a seat out of the sun which today is sweltering, particularly through the glass windows.

We will see if the sign changes tomorrow. After all, the big clock opposite my flat got fixed in the end. It just took several weeks.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

BBQ en France

I went to a barbecue in France the other day. It was organised by the church for people who were old, like me. It started at noon, but I decided to be fashionably late and headed there for just after 1pm.

The location was a private house in the north of Paris. Since I live in the south, it was not difficult to be late. Here is a photo I took from the train during my journey on the "A" line, one I have not used before.

High Rise

 In Paris, most people live in flats. Big, usually rectangular, blocks of concrete. Here some Chinese people appear to have emulated the living conditions but with much more style! Notice also the clouds. This is barbecue day!

But to my arrival, I was over 1 hour late and I was the 4th guest there. All men, and drinking beer in the garden. No sign of a fire anywhere. I had brought a soft drink and I was not up on the world cup. "You're British?" was the comment, "but no beer and no footie?" They declared me a 'sub-standard Brit' and I was welcomed in (sub-standard Brit is probably an advantage in France).

Slowly over the next 2 hours, others arrived.

Helpers, more chiefs than Indians as usual

With the clouds in mind, our host decided to find his canopy, old and with one bit missing (not to mention the instructions) but no-one appeared to care. We got the thing up, and just in time before the rain. In time lots more people arrived so we had to decamp indoors where there was more room.

The barbecue is on the back corner of the photo, behind the swing. It was soon going and it produce loads of meat, as usual, but this is France, so there were loads of nibbles too. 2 ladies in the kitchen had been working hard and different sorts of food kept coming.

There was wine too. The gentleman on the left of the photo knew which were the best ones. And he placed some aromatic twigs on the barbecue to subtly add to the burnt taste.

This is church, so we had some inspirational time before the desert - then loads of sweet lovely stuff appeared. More wine and coffee or hot chocolate. And then the cheese! Which for France is unthinkable because it was after the desert. But our host had forgotten so we had the cheese English style.

Not forgetting that this is World Cup season, we vegetated round the TV for the Brazil match. Football is much better with a crowd of enthusiasts! Brazil won, just, on the very last penalty after extra time. So it was late when I set off for home in the rain.

So there it is, my first French barbecue. Rather like an English one (especially the weather) but with fancy bits.