We love Paris in the spring time . . . (especially the food)

Hello again! Brace yourself for a very long blog. We are here in the beautiful city of Paris. We left Holland on Tuesday morning and lugged all our stuff (with Ian's help) to catch a train to Rotterdam for a connection to Paris. The train to Paris was quite something -- it was very fast. At 300 km per hour we made it to Paris in just over two and a half hours. It felt very modern. After putting some of our belongings into storage at the central Paris train station, we struck out into the Paris hubbub -- we had to make it from the Gare du Nord to the Eastern side of the city where our friends Eve and Francois (who we met in Thailand) live. It took some work to figure out how to get on the Metro at first (it is a little different from London's Underground and we had just a few bags), but we did finally find ourselves in the right place and a short while later we were able to let ourselves into the apartment. Since our friends were not going to be home until the evening, we decided to settle in for a little rest before heading out for a lovely walk through their neighborhood. Our friends live in the 20th arrondissement which is located near the famous Pere Lachaise graveyard where Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried. It is an interesting area with amazing ethnic diversity which is both up-market to one side, and then full on projects on the other.

Here we all are on the first night with Francois, Eve, Amphelise and Celestin. They have been wonderful, kind, and extremely hospitable hosts. It is really enjoyable to reconnect in a totally different context.
Francois and Eve prepared a wonderful authentic French meal for us on the first night. Before starting the dinner preparation, we first went to the local markets and picked out all the amazing ingredients, after which we came home and cooked all together. The small "gastronomie shops" were nothing short of spectacular. Being French, it is all organized with quality as the main concern and the aesthetic layout of everything is to die for. This vegetable market looked like an artist's palate. It was as if every fruit and vegetable had been hand picked and laid out with meticulous attention to detail.
Next came the cheese shop -- it was a universe in itself. Francois told us about all the different cheeses and then picked out about five different ones for the after dinner cheese plate. It was great to have a local lead us through the process. I think we would otherwise have been like deer in headlights.
Then Francois proceeded to buy and prepare some Foie Gras -- talk about a fat-fest! The Foie Gras (this is force-fed duck or goose liver, barbaric we know!) was made complete with delicious thinly sliced apples gently sauteed in a buttery pan. This French delicacy was a little challenging for our Anglo palates, but all the meat eaters made some good attempts at finishing what was on their plates.
Here is the final result on the plate. What a treat!
On Wednesday Francois and family took the day off to be with us, and they took us around to some beautiful Paris sights. Here is Eve and Skye in a typical Parisian lane with lovely trees providing shade.
We had a picnic in the big square in front of Centre Pompidou which had the modern art exhibits of Kandinski and Calder on show -- we would have liked to go to this, but alas, not enough time. Instead we got to do some good people watching in the square while having our lovely picnic. It is easy to eat so well here - fresh baguettes, cheese, some good fruit and vegetables and the rest is history.
Then some wonderful drooling in front of the shop windows. An absolute feast for the eyes!
An obligatory trip to the Notre Dam Cathdral landed up being very special. Even though we had been there before many years ago, one forgets how incredibly stunning this building is. Built 800 years ago, one walks in and is filled with awe at the marvel of the building. Even Kai and Pippin who aren't so keen on churches were quite taken with this place.
The tall majestic domed ceilings really do show how great their faith in God was when building this structure. It took 100 years to build to completion.
It is still a church that is actively in use today. Here are candles being lit by worshipers.
Then off we went in search of a particular creme glacee shop -- to get there we had to get back into "gi-gi" Paris with all its very high end shops. Attention to detail is the order of the day.
All the courtyards between Paris' old buildings are also fun to explore. They all have these lovely entrances that make one think of some romantic French period piece. One expects to see horses and carriages with people dressed in velvets and feathers to come prancing through them at any moment.
Aaaah, at last! We found the creme glacee shop. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum! They had flavours such as orange sanguine (blood orange), fraise de bois (wild strawberry), caramel au beurre sale (caramel and salted butter -- this was unbelieveably delicious, it tasted like the caramel on caramel corn, without the corn flavour), fruite de la passion (passion fruit -- Kai's particular favorite), and of course framboise (raspberry), to name a few.
Here is Amphelise with her raspberry cone, which is the same as Pippin had. Pippin asked for more than one 'boule' when she saw the tiny size, but we had to tell her that in France "small means better!" Once she had a bite, she knew that that is indeed true here. This particular stop was enjoyed by all!
One thing that we love here are all of the different and amazingly intricate doors.
Now Paris wouldn't be "Paris-in-the-Springtime" without some great street acts. After marching up the stairs to the Basilique du Sacre Couer (to the soundtrack from Amelie, which was being played on the carousel at the bottom), and traipsing around the Montmartre neighborhood we came upon this lovely quintet belting out jazzy tunes -- they were very good, and gave us alittle pick-me-up before heading down into the Metro on our way to the Eiffel Tower.
All day the kids had been wanting to get to the Eiffel Tower, and here we were at last. They were both practically levitating out of their skin at the sight.
To get up the tower to the second stage, we opted to take the stair route -- all 696 of them! We could have taken a lift to the top (well, almost the top), but we all felt this was high enough. What a view and we had the perfect viewing weather! This was the first time any of us had been up the Eiffel Tower.
For our final full day in Paris, we decided to first check out the Pere Lachaise cemetary since we were staying so close. This was quite the amazing cemetary -- there are over one million people buried here, and lots of famous ones. We had a map to try to find some of the more famous people buried here -- we couldn't find Chopin, despite looking and looking, but we did see Jim Morrison's grave, Victor Schoelcher's grave (he was one of the people responsible for the abolition of slavery in France and the Carribean Islands), and . . . Oscar Wilde!
Oscar Wilde's monument/gravestone was quite something -- besides being covered in lipstick kisses, there were burning candles at the base, notes left, and fresh flowers. You can't see it in this picture, but above his name a little higher up is an enormous art-deco style winged angel. Clearly he still has quite a following.
By our last day, we felt like pros on the Metro, jumping from line to line to get to where we needed to go. Note the gorgeous street lamps over the Metro sign. So Parisian!
Here is Kai at the Musee du Louvre. Both Kai and Pippin have been hankering to see the Mona Lisa, so at last we made it. Despite having seen many museums up until now, the Louvre proved to be the one that left the kids with the most staying power. We got here a little later than planned, but had quite a stint inside -- both the kids weren't quite ready to leave when they were ushering us out at closing time (which turned out to be earlier than usual, since it was a public holiday -- we seem to have a knack for hitting these museums on holidays.)
Even though there was such an uproar about the glass pyramids when they first were installed, they have become a real fixture of the Louvre. They really are quite something. The whole entryway to the Louvre is quite a treat with lots of natural light.
The renovation done in 1989 substantially increased the gallery spaces and they particularly did a wonderful job with the lighting for the exhibits. Most of the lighting is natural and it really enhances one's experiences of the exhibits.
Interestingly, the kids really got into looking at all the huge paintings depicting various historical and allegorical scenes. The sizes of canvases and the detail encompassed in each painting drew them both in and left them with many questions. It was a pleasure to be with them experiencing this for the first time. The Louvre is said to be the biggest museum displaying art work in the world. One is left feeling that one could spend a whole week and still not see all the exhibits. Both Kai and Pippin said that they would definitely like to come back another time -- finally opening the door to potential future travel.
Paris would be a fantastic place to come stay for a month. Our short stay here did nothing but whet our appetites. On we go tomorrow (Saturday) by car down to Provence to meet up with John and Bay in Lourmarin, just north of Aix-en-Provence. We pick up our brand new Berlingo vehicle which will be with us for the rest of our time in Europe. It will be interesting learning to drive in Europe. The kids are excited to have our own car and to be able to go where we want. This will be a different kind of travel than we have done so far on this trip.
We leave you with sweet thoughts until our next blog entry. Bon Nuit!

Until next time . . .

Skye, Ronato, Kai and Pippin

And more crazy landscapes . .

After our first day of checking this place out, we were very happy to know that we had a few days to explore this wild Cappadocian landscape.  This is a place that one could definitely spend some serious time hiking around and snooping about in, but we were happy to even just get the taste that we had.  During the rest of our days we had beautiful, warm sunshine mixed in with some gentle rain which had us appreciating all aspects of this place. 

For our final day in the Cappadocia region we had the owner of our inn/cave hotel take us on a tour throughout the local valley, and we realized (once again) that one could spend a lot more time here to take it all in. We landed up having a fabulous afternoon full of very varied experiences -- there was an endless "wow" factor for all that we saw.
There is sooo much amazing history in this part of the world.  Of course the Middle East is the cradle of civilization, and so people have inhabited these areas since prehistory.  Earliest historical evidence for this region goes back to about 1900 BC when early artifacts have shown this to be an area with a lot of human activity.  Apparently it was in an important location with regards to key trade routes (including the Silk Road).  Many of these amazing cave homes that were cut into the landscapes started when early Christians came to the areas to escape Roman persecution -- the caves provided good hiding places. These early Christian civilizations were able to flourish in these areas until much later when the Ottomans came through and spread the word of Islam.  There are amazing old churches in the caves here, along with stunning art work from these early Christian times.
Another amazing thing we went to see were some of the underground cities from previous eras, carved deep into the ground under Cappadocia.  These structures are considered a world heritage site and are called the 9th ancient wonder of the world. They were only discovered in 1962 and caught people by surprise by the sheer scale of these structures. It is quite mind boggling how deep they go down under the ground - some as much as eight stories deep, and they were set up to completely sustain as many as 10 000 people with water and food for long periods of time. Kai and Pippin were blown away! (Although Pippin did not like the dark confined spaces deep under the ground). Here is a description I found on the internet of these underground cities:
     "In order to escape harsh winters, wild animals and attacks from enemies, the soft volcanic rock was carved out to form well-fortified cities deep with in the earth. Connected by labyrinths of tunnels, the living quarters, churches and common areas stretch downward for several floors. With ventilation shafts, chimneys and water sources, people could live indefinitely sealed off from the outside world. Excavations have uncovered extensive networks of kitchens, wine houses, food depots, water tanks, meeting areas, toilets and worship areas, all fashioned from rock. There are even niches carved for oil lamps so that the rooms and walkways could be evenly lit. As more space was needed, new rooms were dug out as required. Large round stones, similar to millstones, served as locks on the entrances to keep out intruders and could be operated from the inside only. Due to the texture of the rock, the rooms stayed a comfortable temperature year round, never too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter.
     The exact time-frame of the underground cities is unknown; the first they were mentioned in text was in the writings of Heroditus in the fifth century B.C. Some experts feel that the cities were created by the Hittites for storage areas and then later on put into use by Christians fleeing persecution from the Romans. Other scholars suggest that the cities were created by the Phrygians as a means of defense against the Assyrians. The most common explanation is that the cities were dug out of the rock during the Roman or Byzantine periods. "
Pippin walking through one of the cramped corridors deep underground.  Even I (Ronato) felt a little claustrophobic, given the narrow walkways and the lack of head room. When one just keeps going down and down into the earth through all those spaces, it is hard not to start feeling a little concerned that one will ever get out again.
We basically spent the day going to some of the more spectacular sites and exploring these crazy dwellings in this surreal landscape. All we can say is that it felt absolutely ancient!
This is the view from the highest point on top of what was once an old castle cut out of the rock.
The wild flowers were as tempting as the amazing vistas.
There is still a very rich tradition of pottery in this area and many people adorn their homes and gardens with these terracotta pots adding to the wonderful Middle Eastern flavour. We would have loved to be able to cart some home for our own yard.
Valentino himself strutting along the white sandstone landscapes of Cappadocia. The man has style!
On our return to Istanbul, after a rather grueling night bus (with little to no sleep) we got right back into "tourist" mode checking out the city.  More time at the Grand Bazaar was a must and then off to see some more local landmarks.  The Hagia Sophia (see below) is one of the most impressive buildings imaginable given that it was built in 537AD.  It was amazing to be in and around such an old, old building.  This amazing place spent its first 1000 years, during Roman rule, as a Christian church, and then after the Ottoman invasion, it became a mosque for the next 500 years.  It was only in the late 1930's that it became secularized and was made into a museum of sorts.   What a history!

Inside, the Hagia Sophia has a massive central dome completely unsupported by columns which creates a vast and beautiful space.  It is truly a stunning cathedral -- the ceilings and walls are covered with intricate mosaics and art work, while the floors are covered with huge, worn marble slabs.  In the lower gallery the walls are also covered with huge, smooth, multicoloured marble slabs, giving it a very grand feeling.  Then, there are other areas that were added during the Ottoman Empire -- a more eastern flavour -- this includes large rooms covered entirely with hand-painted tiles -- gorgeous.  

It was easy to imagine Roman sentries standing guard in the doorways, and pompous Roman ceremonies taking place.
One of the other amazing things here is that despite different 'occupations' of this building, aspects of both religions were kept intact.  The amazingly detailed and intricate mosaics depicting various religious figures along with historical figures from Istanbul's/Constantinople's past were kept on the walls despite the fact that this building subsequently became a mosque.  We actually weren't sure if these had been previously covered by plaster and then refurbished or whether they had just been there the whole time alongside the Islamic art.  Either way, it was all very beautiful and awe-inspiring to look at.

After getting in as many last sights as we could, it was good to rest our feet and take a little breather on the rooftop patio of our hotel.  There we caught our last rays of Turkish sunshine, enjoyed our last views of this amazing city, and, of course, enjoyed a nice cup of apple tea!  This was definitely a fabulous little side-trip in this grand adventure that we are on.  Again, our eyes were opened wide -- Turkey was yet another very different place.

Now, it is off to Paris for a few days before heading to the South of France.  While we are really looking forward to seeing our Parisian friends again for a few days, we are looking forward to some quieter times ahead.  After being on the move for so long, we are all feeling ready to settle in one spot for awhile.  We will be staying in Provence for about 3 weeks, and then after that we will settle again in another region called the Midi-Pyrenees for a whole month.  We are looking forward to immersing ourselves in the communities and to practicing our French. Bread, cheese, and wine here we come!

Until next time . . . 

Skye, Ronato, Kai & Pippin