September 7 Saturday Eiffel Tower & Paris by Night

Sept 7, 2013

After dropping off my tea at our hotel room we headed off to the Metro to go on our tour of the Eiffel Tower. The tunnels we walk thru on the Metro to get to the trains are confusing until you know what direction you need to go so it wasn't as bad this 3^rd time. Figures, you just start getting the hang of it and its time to leave. We met our guide & group of 10 couples just outside the exit of the Metro  on the street in front of the Eiffel Tower, and we all got headphones and little radios so we could hear him. He was Australian and very easily understood but if we get separated, we could always hear his narrative. 

We still had a ways to walk down the street to even get to the Tower. It looks a lot closer than it actually is.

 It just kept getting bigger and bigger the closer we got.

Our guide walked us over to the Tower where we “skipped the line” and went to the front with our prepaid tickets. We still stood in a lot of lines but after seeing the line of people who have to wait 2-3 hrs we couldn't really complain.
This is inside. The metal looks brown. They change the color paint on all the metal every once in awhile and its due for a change, so I wonder what color it will be next?

Then we piled 25 people at a time onto an elevator to go to the 2^nd platform with only 1 more platform to the top. We did climb quite a few stairs each time but never saw anyone attempting to climb their way up instead of by elevator so it may not be allowed. But there's no way we were even going to attempt it. 

I first looked down from the 2nd level to the park below and caught the shadow of the Tower over it. 

The views were amazing and the city spread out for miles in a very flat terrain with some small hills. I started walking around to each corner to catch the different views from each side. 

To get to the next level we had to climb a bunch of stairs. I wasn't sure it was worth it because it was so crowed and it was wall to wall people but we trudged onward. But the views did get better. 

We saw the Arc near where our hotel was, and were able to see how the streets were designed like spokes of a wheel going out from it.

There were some old photos on the walls inside this level of visitors back in the early 1900s that I had to take photos of. 

Do you want to see something cool? Take a close look at this photo to the front of the island, called the "lle de France", just past the bridge. There's a small replica of the Statue of Liberty, the gift France gave to the US. And its facing directly at OUR Statue of Liberty. 

I think we spent a total of about 2 hours or more on the Tower, and didn't even try climbing the stairs to the final level as it was backed up with people waiting to go up there. It still took almost a half hour to go down by elevator with the sheer number of people going back. At least it has one way going up, and another going down. But we were packed like sardines in them and hubby didn't like that at all. 

We went back to the hotel for a while, resting up a bit and to find some dinner before our next tour, Cruise on the Seine and Illumination of Paris, started at 8:30pm. We walked up and down the street looking at a couple restaurants and which ones seemed popular. We decided on an Italian one, had a decent meal but the French don't do Italian well.  Then we took the Metro again to our pickup point for the next tour. 
It was a large bus again *bleh* and it drove us past the Eiffel Tower as it was being lit up, 

and then down to the River Seine where we got on a cruise boat. Most of the people were sitting inside because it had been chilly and sprinkling still. But we had dressed warmly and chose to sit on the seats surrounding the cabin outside and got great views of the river front and all the buildings. 
This photo shows the narrow area on the outside of the boat where we were sitting. 

As the evening darkened, we could see people sitting out along the walls and down near the water with their picnic baskets & bottles of wine, and they waved at us as we went by. Apparently this is where the teenagers "park" here too. 

On the way back to our dock, as we approached the Eiffel Tower we saw it light up with a bright strobe light circling around the top. It was really pretty with the lights reflecting off the water. 

   The final show at the Eiffel Tower was a bunch of sparkly lights going off. It only lasted about a minute then it was over. Apparently it repeats this every once in a while but we had to leave.

Next day - https://franceandenglandinaday.blogspot.com/2013/10/september-8-9-sunday-monday-train-to.html

September 8-9 Sunday / Monday Train to Rotterdam

Sept 8-9, 2013 
Sunday morning we're packing up to head for the train station in Paris to travel up to Rotterdam (Holland) for a day. The next night we'll be taking an overnight ferry to Hull, England. We took a cab over to the station, got dropped off in front, and went inside. It seemed kind of small, more like a bus station where about 8 tracks could hold trains. 

 A constantly changing electronic board would update every 15 minutes showing which track your train location would pull in. There was little to no seating, enough for 10 people is all we saw. And we were an hour early. So we stood with a lot of people near the schedule board and people-watched, all the time looking out for those pickpockets everyone warned us about. But I think the armed soldiers kept that problem at bay.
Our train finally arrived, quite a sleek one, and not an old fashioned one as I'd hoped. Hubby was worried the whole time about being separated from our luggage and having it stolen while we weren't around. He'd even tried to buy bicycle locks to lock them to something. We ended up sitting only 4 rows of seats away from the luggage cart but he was constantly watching and standing up each time we stopped to make sure none of our luggage walked away.
On the final long junction he finally relaxed and we could enjoy our lunch we were served with our tickets. It was an interesting pasta salad with veggies but I think I would have liked it warm rather than cold. Same with the green beans. The strudel wasn't bad though.

 I kept trying to take photos of the countryside but we were moving too fast, and then walls and barriers would block the view. I wanted to show what Rotterdam looked like. I didn't expect to see any windmills because I don't think we were in any part of the country. There was a lot of graffiti on the walls too. I guess that happens all over the world. And we didn't see any pretty parts of town.

We finally reached the train station at Rotterdam and it was kind of run down and confusing to us. The signs weren't helping either. So we just kind of followed the crowds to find the exit and look around for a taxi cab. They still lined up out front like ours do so that was easy. Our driver spoke some English and was able to answer some questions but there wasn't much he could tell us because the area we were in was industrial, not a tourist area. It was getting to be disappointing and I was losing my spirits seeing all the big tanks and non-descript buildings. Our driver asked us a couple times why we were here, and I started wondering too. But it was the most convenient and closest location for us to catch the ferry tomorrow night.
*Suddenly the commercial for Booking.com popped into my head-- You're driving down dirt roads, trudging through sand, dragging your suitcases, and wondering "did I make a mistake?"*
Our hotel, the Carlton Oasis in Spijkenisse, was in the middle of an industrial park.  I had to have the name repeated to me multiple times to get it. *Spee kanesse with soft s's"

It was a "boutique" hotel, catering to business conferences, and with nothing else around, the restaurant is a gathering for the residents for dinner.
This was our view out the windows of our room.

See that tall green thing? I think that's supposed to be art. It's a tall blade of grass. Also notice the dark clouds in the back? A massive thunderstorm was arriving. Moments later it started thundering with lightening around us, and an hour later it was dumping buckets of rain on us, and continued doing that the entire next day. Enough rain came down the next morning that the roof in the dining room was starting to have drips around us.

Our room was a suite where the bedroom was walled off on one end, and it was nice. Not exactly to our decorating tastes, but nice. And the bed had a down mattress.  

Since I don't have much to write about this place, I'm including this: I'm fascinated by foreign bathrooms, and this one was no exception. See that white box on the wall to the right of the toilet? It's the toilet paper dispenser and they come out in single sheets, the size of half a Kleenex. Takes about 4 sheets. One thing I noticed on our trip is that their toilet paper over there is thicker than ours, so it takes less. 

NOT MUCH TO SEE HERE FOLKS!
As I said, it was pouring rain the next day and anyhow we were miles away from a town worth visiting, and the cab fare would be ridiculous, so we used this as a day of rest from all that walking in Paris. I thought I'd get my journaling caught up but spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to load up photos on my laptop so I could share some on Facebook. Hubby spent a good part of the day trying to figure out how to get either of the TVs to work, watching a few programs and napping. I happened to catch a BBC Two program similar to our TV series on renovating old houses, called "Restoration Home",  but here they have REALLY OLD houses. They renovated an old stone manor, Castle Cassillas, where they dug up the stone floor basement kitchen and found relics down there. Man, I would love to watch that series at home!  Oooh, just found a link to it. Hope it works so I can watch it on my computer.  Restoration Home   *Nope, the videos don't work in the US*
We went downstairs for dinner to a really nice looking restaurant there, and had a fabulous dinner. I had grilled jumbo shrimp on a bed of finely diced vegetables, on top of grilled potato medallions. It was delicious. I've noticed in Paris and here they cut their veggies much smaller than we do, and I like that. I'm getting tired of trying to eat chunks that are too big for my mouth.  My dessert was a pear tart that came with a walnut cream to pour over the top, and a thick cream with a tart berry that they said is for decoration, like we do parsley.

We didn't really unpack our suitcases this time so we were able to wait till the last minute to leave for the ferry. I took a final photo of the lobby of the hotel before we left. It really wasn't a bad place at all, and I can see why they called it Carlton Oasis because amidst the industrial park, it would be an oasis.

Our ferry was leaving at 9pm so we called our taxi and headed out on the 45 minute drive to the Rotterdam Port. I'm not sure what I was expecting. We had reserved a cabin to sleep in, and I'm wondering was it going to be like the ferries in Washington, that transports people and cars across the water? What a surprise when we came to the terminal and found it was just like a small cruise ship! It's getting better! 
*Cue booking.com commercial- trudging up the gangplank dragging your suitcases* Except we went up three levels by escalator. Stepping on board we saw lots of travelers looking like day trippers. It wasn't quite as complicated as one of our cruise ships. We walked down the hallway to our corner suite and suddenly......

Booking dot YEAHHHHHH!!     Cute, isn't it? 

The shower room and toilet (each w/ its own sink) were in separate rooms in our room, although small, but usable. 

Things were looking up. We already had our dinner earlier so we just wandered around the ship, checking out the club room, the casino (kind of small) and the shopping (one large room of mainly cosmetics, purses, and toiletries). Nothing like one of our cruise ships but these are only meant to do short trips, not week-long. 
Then we headed back for bed and get prepared for our arrival next morning in Hull, England. 
Except our beds were hard as rocks, and so were the pillows. What?!!!! Come on people!!! 

Next day- https://franceandenglandinaday.blogspot.com/2013/10/september-10-tuesday-in-england.html

September 10 Tuesday in England, Arriving in York

Sept 10, 2013

After our ferry landed in Hull, England, we taxied over to the car rental where hubby had reserved a mid-size car and hopefully with a GPS. That didn't happen. They had no mid-size cars, only the little guys and a 7 person van. And we all know what size car he needs. And they had no GPS. So we started with 4 points against this challenge: a big car, no GPS, driving on the wrong side of the road, and the driver seated on the wrong side of the car. It would prove interesting, to say the least. 

We had about a little more than a one hour drive to York, and the directions seemed to be simple if you know where you're going. I was supposed to help navigate and not sightsee, but when there are no street signs, what can you do? Get lost, of course. We did get pretty close to our goal but took a wrong turn and ended up driving around in circles at York University before finding our way out, then trying to figure out where we were, and how to get back on track. We finally found a main road and I suggested stopping at a gas station for directions. After being pointed back in the right direction by a lot of helpful people, we finally got back to the point where we had made the wrong turn at the City Centre stone wall and made the right turn we were supposed to. And then we saw the sign that would have helped us the first time. GPS would have really helped on this trip. We drove on a few streets looking for more street signs, where we finally discovered are attached to the tops of some buildings, which doesn't help until its too late. This became a reoccurring problem throughout our trip. We managed to double back to where we recognized one sign, and FINALLY made it to the street our B&B was on. And they all looked the same! But halfway down the street was the little sign to ours, The Bronte Guesthouse. And yes, it was named after the author, Emily Bronte, who used to visit York. 

Here was its pretty front porch. 

Our room wasn't quite ready as we had arrived earlier than they planned, so the innkeeper helped us bring our luggage into the front parlor and said he would take it upstairs when it was ready. He gave us some maps and flyers and sent us merrily on our way to the old walled city of York, which was about 2 blocks away. This was our path was we walked the streets to there. 

Found a place for lunch sometime this week! Cornish Pasties! 

Except hubby found what he was looking for- Drakes Fish & Chips! And boy was it good. The batter was thin and very crispy, and perfect. 

Since I'd learned about there being a Bettys Tea Room here we compromised where he got to eat this, and then we'd go to Betty's where I'd have my afternoon tea. So after he was done eating, we headed over there. 

Our innkeeper told us to look for "little" Bettys, not "big" Bettys which is a larger more modern & commercial one in the town square. It took a while going up and down streets that seemed to turn back into themselves often but finally found it. 

There's a tea shop downstairs, and upstairs is the tearoom. We had a wait of about 15 minutes so it wasn't bad. 

Here is my afternoon tea: sandwiches were a ham and cream cheese, a delicious salmon, which I don't normally like, an egg mayo, and a cucumber & butter. My tea was their Bettys Tea Room Blend. A nice fluffy large scone came with lots of clotted cream and raspberry jam, and desserts were a mixed fruit tart, a square of a mocha Opera cake, and a pistachio macaron. I only ate the Opera cake, and saved the rest for later because I was full. Hubby had his dessert of chocolate torte and a delicious hot chocolate. 

HAPPY CAMPER!! 

After enjoying our meal, I went downstairs to the tea shop and bought a bag of their hot chocolate and a tin of their Betty's Tea Room Blend.

The goodies they had in the bakery case were just gorgeous and it was hard to walk away from them. The little owl cupcakes were adorable. 

We continued walking around town and finally found "big" Bettys in the town square. It occupied the entire downstairs corner of this building, and did look very modern. And there was a line of people waiting outside to go in. The window displays were also very pretty. 

I found a couple more tearooms I would have loved to try out. 

The narrow roads twisted and turned and it was fun to discover little details on the buildings. And you had to look up!!

 

 Even the churches had beautiful details to look at.

It started raining but I finally found the York Antique Center I'd been told about. 

Pretty much everything was locked inside glass cases and anything you wanted to see had to have it unlocked. Most of what I saw was really old, like medieval and Asian, and lots of jewelry. Right away I found a mourning brooch with braided hair inside it for a really good price, according to what I've seen in San Diego. It would have been about $72, which was amazing when I've only seen them for $150-200. Hmmm, maybe resell it? But then I saw a mourning bracelet and it was love at first site. The medallion was Vulcanite, and the band the dealer said was Bakelite. It's flexible and opens to go over your hand. It was L53 ($85), still a deal and I wanted this for myself. I passed on the hair brooch but was sorry I had no way of asking my friends online if they were interested. I walked away happy.

While I was shopping in there, hubby went off to find the train station so he could pick up our tickets ahead of time for when we arrived in Carlisle on the 14th. It was very picturesque and reminded me of a Harry Potter movie.

We headed back to our B&B finally to see if our room was ready and it was. We were shocked that the innkeeper had dragged all our heavy suitcases up the 3 flights of narrow stairs to the room but he said as long as he takes his time, he won't throw his back out. 

These are the cute little backyards behind us. 

After unpacking and getting ourselves settled in, we chatted up the innkeeper again and asked which ghost tour he would recommend. He said many of his guests had really liked the one on Shambles Street. So we headed back to town for that and dinner. As we were leaving, this little girl popped up to say hello. Her name is Pixie, a chocolate point Siamese who has adopted the innkeepers, and she loves cuddles. So I got my cat fix a few times while we were here. She even fell asleep in my arms the last day. Ahhhh.

Since hubby had REALLY REALLY liked his fish and chips earlier from Drakes, we decided to have dinner in their restaurant, and sat down to some HUGE pieces of fish. 

Then we headed off to find Shambles Street, the oldest street in York, and the most interesting. Yes, the buildings are leaning in. 

A group of people began gathering at the appointed time of the tour, and shortly a very loud and obnoxious gentleman in black showed up to greet us. He warned us about being taken in by other ghost tour guides and that this was the only true one. We gathered around him to pay our fee, and when we were done, he ran away. Everyone nervously giggled but a few minutes later he returned with folks from the opposite end of the street to join us, and we started off.  

He started the tour in front of a church and scared the children after telling them we were all standing on graves.

Our tour was about an hour and we wandered the streets to different buildings hearing some stories of children being locked in their rooms and abandoned by parents when they came down with the plague. Their ghosts still knock on windows to be let out. He knocked on one door very loudly, and yelled RUN!!! 

So much of it was kind of scary but funny, and very family friendly. We went through narrow little alleys that you'd never notice unless someone pointed it out. It was like finding hidden rooms and doorways. Fun! The final high-jinx was we all stood across the street from an Italian restaurant where you could see the people eating inside through the large windows. He stood with his back to them talking to us. At one point he said wave at the people and all 25 of us did. It caught their attention inside. At his signal we all walked across the street up close to the building, stared a second, and then yelled BOO!!!  And ran!! 

What a hilarious way to end the tour and our night.  

As we were leaving we started hearing the church bell at York Minster Cathedral start tolling for 15 minutes at a time. It would stop for a minute then start up again. It went on for an hour, then stopped. I need to find out what that's all about. 

**Five years later, in 2018, I think I finally figured out what the bell tolling was all about. It was mentioned on TV that on September 11, other countries memorialized 9-11 and the people who died in the US that day. I wished I'd know that at the time.** 

Next day- https://franceandenglandinaday.blogspot.com/2013/10/september-11-wednesday-in-york.html