Monet`s House and Garden

It is mid way through the week and only one more working day to go! Last week Alessio and I were in Belgium and I have not put the photos on the lap top yet so will have to wait a bit. Instead we will go back to the end of May and a trip to Paris.

Alessio and I visited Monet`s House and Garden in Giverny, it is not too far from Paris and we went with to the train. The gardens are quite far from the train station but there are shuttle buses to take or you could walk. I bought the tickets online and that helped with the lines to get in, which was just as well as it was a hot day.

As you can imagine and hopefully see from the photos that the garden was pretty amazing. So many lovely flowers and very colourful We wondered around the gardens for a bit and then queued to get into the house itself. It is such a beautiful house and you could imagine looking out of the windows and feeling inspired to paint. The rooms were just delightful and there were some of his paintings hanging too.

We then walked to the other side to see where he painted the famous water Water Lillies painting. The pond, the water lillies, the famous bridge and  trees were all really beautiful and it was packed with people taking lots and lots of photos.

I was really pleased that I have visited here as it had been on my bucket list for a while. It cost 10.20 euros for an adult and children over 7yrs cost 7.20 euros. You can also book a tour which makes it easier getting into the place, but definitely get your tickets online as it does make a difference.

Have a good rest of the week!!

Paris Postcards

Eglise de la Trinité

New Opera House

Place Vendome

Banque de France

Place des Victories- Statue of Louis XIV

Cool cafe on Rue Etienne Marcel

Church Saint Eustache

Place René Cassin - Statue  The Listener

At the end of May I visited Paris with Alessio, the main reasons were to visit the Palace of Versailles and Monet`s House and Gardens. It was a very hot few days which didn`t help when we were standing in long queues for the two main places!

I decided to pick a hotel in an area of Paris which I had not seen before and near to the train station Saint Lazare. Personally I think walking around Paris is one of the joys of this city, there is so much to see and do!

Actually the only part of the city which we saw again was the Eiffel Tower and that was because Alessio wanted to see it again. I have to admit that I also like to see the tower too. I also met up with a friend Heidi and we got to see her lovely baby girl Maya.

Our final day we only had the morning until lunchtime so we made the most of it, we walked to the Place Vendome and from there we wondered to Place des Victories. Then I discovered a really great part of Paris, lots of fantastic shops, markets and cafe/restaurants. The Rue Montorgueil in the 1st and 2nd arrondissement, is a pedestrian area. Not just this street but the others around are all very interesting and I wish I had known about it before. I would highly recommend a visit if anyone goes to Paris!!

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Palace of Versailles and Garden!

Last weekend Alessio and I visited Paris, we did two day trips and one was to the Palace of Versailles. The train journey was just over 30mins to Versailles train station and then a 15min walk to the palace itself. Once we got into the grounds we were then horrified to see the longest queue I have ever seen and that was in spite of having bought tickets online. We then queued for over 1.5 hours in the blazing sun.

The Palace of Versailles was the official residence of the Kings of France from 1682 to 1790. It was originally a hunting lodge built in 1624 by Louis XIII. It is a huge complex and you really need the whole day to see it all especially when you have to queue for so long to get in. The gardens were co- designed by André le Nötre, who was considered the greatest landscape architect in France. There is so much to see in garden also, and if you are not exhausted from walking around the palace, you will be after the garden. The movie called A Little Chaos is about Versailles and its garden, it does not get a good review but may be worth seeing for setting!

I was a bit disappointed with the whole visit, this was a place I had really wanted to see for a long time. I did of course know that there would be lots of queuing and waiting but still even in the palace itself it was packed. I would still recommend a visit but maybe not in the summer, I guess all year round it will be busy but maybe a bit less in the other seasons!

Have a great long weekend!

A Long Weekend in Paris!

Chopin Grave

The last weekend of May, Alessio and I visited Paris, for me it was my fifth time, for Alessio it was his first. The main reason was because we were invited to the wedding of Heidi and Lamine, so I planned numerous activities that would be of interest to Alessio.

We arrived on Saturday around lunchtime and we headed straight for our hotel which was very near to the Arc de Triomphe which I already posted about. I thought Alessio would really like to visit Musée de l´Armée which is situated at Les Invalides, this is the national military museum of France. He liked seeing the exhibition on guns, tanks, weapons, different types of uniforms and war, we also saw the tomb of Napoleon I.

Afterwards we headed to see the Eiffel Tower, no trip to Paris is complete without seeing it (although you can see it from afar in many places) it is one of my favorite sights.  We did more wondering around the beautiful streets and found somewhere to eat.

The next day was rainy but we headed to an area which was new to me too, situated on the left bank of the river Seine is the Parc André Citroen. One of the highlights is a tethered helium balloon which you can go in and rises 300m and you see some of the Parisian sights. Sadly due to the weather we could not go in the balloon so we just walked around the park which was full of people jogging.

That evening was the wedding which I do not have so good photos to show you all! We had a good time and saw some friends which I do not see regularly.

Finally on the Monday our last day we only really had the morning to do some exploring, so we visited the Pere Lachaise Cemetery which I had wanted to visit for some time.  This cemetery has quite a lot of famous people buried here such as Oscar Wilde, Moliere, Chopin, and Jim Morrison which I wanted to see. Unfortunately I wondered up and down the row where he is buried but could not see it. Alessio had a great time climbing over the graves and jumping around, in fact he was so pleased to be here he shouted out "Mummy thank you for bringing me here"!

So our long weekend in Paris was over we headed to the Gare de Lyon for our train back to Zurich. If travelling to Paris from Zurich the train is much better than the plane as you are right in the centre of Paris on arrival!