A Weekend in Paris

We travelled to Paris from Geneva as this is the starting point of our Greenland and The North West Passage trip. We have been travelling at a hectic pace and have tried to make this visit a little more relaxed.

On our arrival we checked into our hotel and didn't go out till we had a break. We walked to Montmartre and climbed the million or so steps to the terrace in front of The Sacre Coeur Church.

It was a real buzz. People everywhere and lots of noise.

                                                        The Sacre Coeur Church.

                                                The views back over Paris are spectacular.

We sat and relaxed in one of the back streets. Artists were sketching, we sat and enjoyed the atmosphere and a few drinks.
The next morning, being in the city of love, we found the local laundromat and did a full week's washing. Later we set off to explore some of the local sites. First was St Chapelle after 3 changes of Metro!

                                    It is one of the most spectacular buildings on the planet.

                                                               Robert at the entrance.

                                                             Stunning stained glass.

                                                          Just look at the detail.

                                                              Intricate detail.

                                                      Gail's No 1 priority to visit in Paris.

It was only a short distance across to The Notre Dame Cathedral. The beauty and size are amazing.

                                     
                                                                   Gail outside the Church.

                                                         The outside of the church.

                                                          The cavernous interior.

After our visit to Notre Dame, we navigated the Metro once more - with only 3 changes, then a walk through the lovely area where the Picasso Museum is located

                         
                                                  Pablo Picasso  Le Matador

                                                  Pablo Picasso Portrait of Nusch Eluard

Not sure if I would like him to paint my portrait but they are certainly striking!  Many of the works in this museum were donated by Picasso's family at 2 separate times in exchange for death duties.

We returned to our hotel, resisting the opportunity to stop and have a drink in this pleasant part of Paris.  Later we celebrated our last night in Paris at a local restaurant.

We have had a short but enjoyable stay in Paris and are off to Greenland in a few hours. We don't expect to have wifi till we get to USA in three weeks.

Geneva

We travelled to Geneva by train from Fribourg. The scenery as we came around the lake was less spectacular than expected. On arrival we organised our ticket to Paris and needed to go earlier than planned. We decided that we would spend some time on the lake and also walk around the old town.
After checking into our hotel we first visited the Basilique Notre Dame. This was very close so a good place to start.

                                                     Large columns for the high roof.

    We took a lake trip and admired the lakeside homes, the sailing boats and the great lakeboats.

                                                       The fountain in the lake.

                                              Like Lake Burley Griffen on steroids.

Back ashore we admired the Brunswick monument. Then we crossed the bridge to the old town.

                              Something about Switzerland..there are clocks everywhere!

  

                                                            All the towns have fountains!

In the old town we crossed over  Street of Purgatory to St Madeleine Temple. The windows are stunning. It had once been a Catholic church.

                         We were actually walking up! No funicular to get us up to the Cathedral!

                             The towers of St Peters Cathedral. They didn't quite match!

                         We started to walk back past some interesting shops and buildings.

                                                            A perfume shop window.

                                                          Time for a rest before going back!

                                                                 Just the thing!

We were entertained by a model on a photo shoot..or is it Gail returning with her shopping!

We are at the end of our time in Switzerland and head to Paris in the morning. After two days it is on to Greenland. Had a wonderful visit to Switzerland.

Gruyeres

Again we left Fribourg, this time to visit the tiny community of Gruyeres Ville. We needed to change trains at Bulle and didn't connect! So we spent some time wandering around the old part of the town.

                                            The town has its own castle right in the town centre.

                               The only thing that crossed the drawbridge during our visit was a forklift! That                                      would have made a great medieval weapon!!

                                                 One of the town statues had a special hat.

Back on the train we were soon at Gruyeres and then by connecting bus on to Gruyeres Ville. This is a tiny community not much more than one small street.

                                         Gail and the town of Gruyeres Ville.

                                                         Small but full of character.

The community doesn't have a castle but does have a large Chateau. We were too late to tour but very interesting.

                                                The views were very attractive.

          

                                                     View over the local church.

                                                           Wonderful old buildings.

                                                      The old walls and defences.

                                          Gail on the walls overlooking the fertile valley.

We never got around to going to the cheese factory or even eating any! But we did see very fertile farms and lots and lots of cows!

                                                    The beer was good on a warm afternoon.

We retraced our steps and with good connections were back in Fribourg in less than an hour.

Fribourg

We have explored the small city of Fribourg over several days with one especially interesting walk through the old town quarter.
It is a very extensive historic area and we set off downhill stopping to look at the beautiful fountains and places of interest. Often those that are not considered especially important we found to be very interesting.

             This was a covered walkway with a fountain and flowers. Just the path to a house!

Some distance down we stopped at the Town Hall. They seem to be impressive!

                                                      Gail at the Hotel de Ville or Rathaus.

Towards the river we came to the Cathedral. We had passed several other churches on the way.

                                                               Cathedral of St Nicolas.

We also stopped at a few interesting museums. The first was the Museum Jean Tinguely. An oddball character!

This is called A reproduction of Western decadence and consumerism...or something like that! It is a working model but hard to load the video.

                                      His works are very colourful. We only bought two!

                                    Our next stop was the Franciscan Monastery. Quite a contrast!

                                  Then it was the Gutenberg Museum. We remember type setting!

We continued downhill on the very steep streets. Most of the area is pedestrian only.

                                                         One of the many fountains.

We stopped for lunch! This was one of our best finds. We sat on a terrace with views down to the river and we were the only customers. One of our best meals.

                                        Coming out of the tunnel that was the terrace entrance.

We made it down to the river. Gail at the covered bridge The Pont de Berne.

                              Not as long as the covered bridges of Lucerne but very impressive.

                                  Then to the puppet museum. Puppets from around the world.

The views looking back up to the town were great. This is taken from the Pont du Milieu as it crosses the River Sarine.  Can see the yellow umbrella right of centre? That is our lunch spot!

We walked around and crossed back at another bridge.

                                                     Gail on the Pont de Saint-Jean.

We spent hours walking downhill. So we went up by the tiny little funicular back to the top.

If this had not been available we would have walked back to the lunch restaurant and moved in.
This is a wonderful place and we are very pleased that we chose to make this our base.